Golden Feathers
by Wolf of Chains
Summary: Life was fine for twins, Alexis and Nick Cross. That is until Nick gets recommended into becoming a PSICOM recruit. However, things start to take a turn when Nick and Alexis are considered traitors to PSICOM and are suddenly thrown into a race against time with a group of strangers. They will learn more than what meets the eye. VanillexOC and LightningxOC(?)
1. Being Recommended

**A/N: **Welcome one and all to my FFXIII fanfic that I've been planning for some time ^^ This fanfic contains OCs, so if you don't like OCs then get ya butt out of here because I won't tolerate flames and flames will be used to make delicious s'mores! Anyways, this fanfic is VanillexOC because...there are barely any (I think...I didn't go through the entire archive) Enough of my blabbering mouth, onto the first chapter of _Golden Feathers_! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The Final Fantasy series belongs to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and other characters belong to me~!

***Re-edited 5/1/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter One: Being Recommended**

* * *

"Hey, Nick," I looked over from shoulder and looked at the girl behind me who stood behind the kitchen counter. That girl is my twin sister, Alexis Cross "Are you sure you want to know?"

Her charcoal colored hair goes down to her shoulder blades but likes to put in a low ponytail, the bangs of her hair sweep to the right side of her face. She is currently wearing a red short-sleeved t-shirt, black jean shorts with a single white suspender hanging by her side, and black knee-high boots.

As for me, I wore a simple dark grey t-shirt, black khaki shorts that went down a little past my knees, black knee-high combat boots, and a black bandana that's tied loosely around my neck.

I took another bite of my apple from before responding, "Alexis, I'm sure. Besides, whatever Derek has doesn't have to do a thing with PSICOM, right?" Alexis shifted her blue eyes elsewhere and smiled nervously, I just stared at her "Don't tell me...it has something to do with PSICOM...?"

"I'll just tell you since Derek told me not to," She walked around the kitchen counter and sat on one of the three bar stools that sat in front of the kitchen counter that she was just standing behind, "Don't get angry or anything, okay?" I nodded, Alexis then continued "Well, Derek told me that PSICOM are taking in new trainees who finished the academy for the Purge at Hanging Edge. He said that he's going to recommend you to his CO and get the answer."

I gripped my apple, I was about to throw it at the wall but couldn't do it. Besides, Alexis and I are currently at the family's vacation home in Palumpolum and I didn't want to ruin anything if Derek came through the door "I knew that moron would go behind my back again and do whatever he sees fit in my life," I said, taking another bite out of my apple.

Do you sometimes feel like your life is being controlled by a person and you can't stand it one bit? Yep, that's what I'm feeling. Let me explain; our older brother, Derek Cross, one of the few colonels in PSICOM is the one person whose making my future without me having a say in it- and here's why:

One, when my twin sister and I just turned 17, he came up to me with a smile on his face and said 'I got you enrolled into the PSICOM academy, Nick'. He enrolled me but not my sister. And that was only two years ago.

And two, he just recommended me to his CO about joining PSICOM.

I sighed wearily before taking more bites out of my apple "Why don't you just cut him some slack, Nick." Alexis suggested as she placed a hand on my left shoulder "I think he's trying to do whatever he thinks is right for the family."

Cut him some slack? I swallowed the piece of apple in mouth before replying "To hell what he thinks," I snapped with a frown "You know the main reason why I don't want to join PSICOM and it's because they took father away from us when were only eight years-old. Eight years-old, Alexis!" And of course, father was called out a few days before our ninth birthday. But he was able to leave one birthday presents each of us, which were gunblades that he had one of the workers at the PSICOM headquarters make.

Alexis was about to say something until several knocks came to the front door, we looked at each other with unsure looks "Nick Cross and Alexis Cross," It's obviously not Derek "Colonel Derek Cross sent us to pick you two up and bring you two to the headquarters at the Hanging Edge."

"Well, might as well get going." I said, throwing my apple in the trash. Alexis and I grabbed our gunblades that were sitting on the black leather couches. Our sheaths were also made by our father before he left. We changed our gunblades into their gun form then put them in their cases that hung above our knees since we are the same height. We then headed towards the front door, I opened it to see two PSICOM wardens waiting for us.

"Nick Cross," said the PSICOM warden on the right, "You're being expected at headquarters," For the second time today, I sighed. Alexis closed the door behind us as we walked out of the house "The ship has been parked at the loading docks, it's not far from here." As we began to walk towards the dock, we were joined by two more PSICOM soldiers. Talk about Derek being overprotective.

"Nick," Alexis picked up her pace so that it matched mine, I looked at her "Pretend that you heard nothing from me about this whole recommendation thing. Derek would kill me if I leaked one word about it since it's your surprise present."

"Don't worry," I assured her with a knowing smile "He won't suspect a thing."

* * *

**Alexis's POV**

As we continued towards the dock, I noticed that there were people staring at us as we were escorted by the four PSICOM soldiers, in all honesty, I had to agree with Nick in some things about Derek. We stopped at an elevator that went up to the ship that was docked, one of the PSICOM soldiers pressed the button and the elevator doors slid open. We entered the elevator and one of the PSICOM soldiers pressed one of the buttons on the panel and the elevator began to rise up to the docking area.

The elevator came a halt and the doors opened once again, we were then escorted out and into the transporting ship.

Once inside, Nick and I resided in the cock pit where other soldiers were _"This is the_ _'Pyro', destination: Hanging Edge. ETA: Approximately two hours."_ With all that stuff said on the overcom, the _'Pyro'_ began to lift itself off from the ground of the dock and go at cruising speed on the way towards the Hanging Edge.

Before Derek left, he told both Nick and I that PSICOM had made a base at the Hanging Edge because they were recently got orders that they were purging people who lived too close to something from Pulse...something like that. The ride to the Hanging Edge seemed quite uncomfortable for me since Nick hasn't said a word since we came aboard the _'Pyro'_. Speaking of Nick...where is he? I glanced around the cock pit but saw no sign of him, he's probably in the ship's hull.

I walked up the short stairs and through the door of the cock pit, my boots clacked against the metal ground of the ship as I navigated my way through the ship. There were several times that I got lost, a PSICOM soldier came up to me and asked if I needed help and of course, I nodded and asked where the hull is. For some reason, I felt like the PSICOM soldier was staring with a confused look underneath his helmet, he then led me to the hull. I gave him my thanks then he went back to whatever duty he had.

The door leading into the hull swished open as I walked through, I glanced around to see nothing but ammo containers. Flicking metal then reached my ears, I looked around a stacked pile of green containers to see Nick sitting there, switching his gunblade's form from gun to blade. He seemed to be deep in thought, "Nick..."

He snapped out of his trance and looked up to me "Hey, Alexis," He said with a smile "Got worried about your twin, yeah?" I shook my head in disblief and wacked him on the back of the head, earning a surprised yelp from him "Hey!"

"That was for walking away without telling me so," I explained, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well sorry," Nick rubbed the back of his head "I needed some time to myself and think about this whole 'Derek recommending me to PSICOM' thing." He said, looking away from me and down at his black and gold colored gunblade with the name 'Griffin's Pride' itched into the gold surface. My gunblade is the same as Nick's except with the name 'Griffin's Strength' itched into the surface. For some reason, griffins were our father's favorite mythical creature. I sat down next to Nick on his right and he spoke up, "Alexis, how come Derek does things like this to me?"

I can only shrug my shoulders "I don't know but I think he wants you to keep the family name alive in PSICOM after he's gone." Nick snorted in amusement, I raised an eyebrow "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," He waved his hand dismissively "I just find it funny that Derek wants me to keep the family name alive when he knows that I hate PSICOM with a passion."

I was about to say something until the voice from before sounded on the overcom _"We have reached our destination on schedule,"_ Nick and I stood up from sitting on the containers, several PSICOM soldiers came into the hull and the hatch opened up once the 'Pyro' made a successful landing. We walked out with the PSICOM soldiers still escorting us.

* * *

**Nick's POV**

We arrived the base that PSICOM has set up, the base was like a camp site with countless of tents here and there. I looked around to see Purge trains zooming on the tracks with people who are being purged "There you two are!" exclaimed a very familiar voice, I looked forward to see a man with messy black hair and a black goatee. He wore the PSICOM colonel uniform that seems more bulkier than the uniform of a PSICOM soldier. Yep, that's our older brother, Colonel Derek Cross.

"Hey, Derek," Alexis greeted for the both of us, guess it's time to play my part of not knowing about the recommendation. Both of them hugged followed by Derek ruffling my hair, I mentally growled.

"Nick, I have a suprise for you," Derek said with a grin.

I managed to fake a frown and it seems obvious to Alexis, "A surprise? With PSICOM?" Derek nodded before gesturing both Alexis and I to follow him towards the tent that his CO resided in. As we walked past tents, I couldn't help but to see Patherons prowling around the grounds. Alexis nudged me with her elbow and I returned my attention towards the incoming tent.

Derek stopped and turned to me, "I'll be right back, I need to have a word with my CO real quick," With that, he went inside the dark green tent while Alexis and I waited outside. After what it seems like a while, Derek poked his head out from between the slits of the tent and motioned us to enter the tent. We entered the tent and came face-to-face with a man who loooks like he can be in his late thirties, I'm just guessing because his black combed-back hair seems to be sporting pieces of grey hair "Alexis, Nick, this is my CO; Anthony Spears."

Alexis and I nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, sir," Both of us said in unison.

Derek's CO made a bright grin, "It's a pleasure to meet you two," He stood up straight from looking at a map of the Hanging Edge? The CO held his hands behind his back "You're Nick Cross, am I correct?" He asked, looking at me. I nodded in response, the CO walked around the large and stood between it and us "You don't seem to be a boy of 19," I heard Alexis snicker behind me "Instead, you look 16." He's got to be kidding me, like hell I look like a 16 year-old! Damn old man. The CO continued talking, "So Nick, I heard from Colonel Cross that you passed the Academy with flying colors."

I nodded, "That's true, sir,"

He returned the nod, he leaned back into the table behind him and began thinking. I noticed him shifting his eyes from me to Derek then back to me "You know what," He finally said, "I'll accept your older brother's recommendation of you joining PSICOM and it's ranks."

I faked a bright smile,"Thank you, sir." Someone kill me please!

"Just make sure you don't make me regret the decision." He added and I nodded in response "Now, your first day as a PSICOM soldier begins tomorrow and I doubt you need to know how to fight since I clearly see your gunblade. I'll give you further instructions when you arrive here tomorrow, you're dismissed."

Derek saluted before walking us out of the tent of his CO, "So Nick," Damn it all "What do you think?" I casted a sideways glance towards with a frown.

"I am utterly speechless at the moment."

* * *

**A/N: **Chapter one is complete! Hope you enjoyed it more than I did, until the next time on _Golden Feathers_! See ya!  
Reviews and critisms are welcome but flames will be used to make s'mores~!


	2. Disgracing the Family Name

**A/N: **Here's chapter two of _Golden Feathers_! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy XIII and its awesome characters belong to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and its OCs belong to me

***Red-edited 4/7/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Two: Disgracing the Family Name**

* * *

It's a new day and the day that I begin the new point of my life as a PSICOM soldier, unfortunately, things happened too fast on this day. Derek told me that the purgees that were being purged began to revolt and every PSICOM soldier are being sent to the Hanging Edge. Shoot, I would do the same...if I wasn't a PSICOM rookie or anything.

Right now, I'm standing in the hull of the _'Pyro'_ with Derek, his group of seven- including me and him but not Alexis. That's right, Alexis made Derek let her come along because she knows that someone should be there to watch my back if he couldn't. Yep, Alexis always has my back.

Alexis and I stood away from the group of soldiers, Derek is currently informing the team of our assignment and appearantly, failure is not within the PSICOM dictionary nor the Cross family. I looked down at the PSICOM helmet in my now black gloved hands then looked at the helmet in Alexis' hands.

"Cross," Derek barked at us, "Put on your helmets," I mentally growled with a scowl, Alexis and I wearily put on our helmets. A bright orange screen appeared in front of my eyes, I flinched at the brightness at the screen at first then it slowly dimmed to a comfortable light "Alright, back to what as I was saying; our assignment is to reinforce group 12 in Area 3-6 since they're surrounded and that-"

Before Derek can say anything else to the team, the 'Pyro' jerked to the side as if it was hit by a missle. The pilot of the _'Pyro'_ began to shout on the overcom,_ "Attention! Attention! We've been hit! I repeat, we've been hit!"_ Told you.

Derek rushed over to the side of the hull and pressed the button to open the hatch. The hatch slowly opened to reveal us swaying from left to right, another missle caught my eye and hit the bottom of the _'Pyro'_. Alexis began to scream as she was knock off of her feet from the explosion.

"Sis!" I ignored Derek's shouts and dived for Alexis as she slid towards the edge of the hatch. I grabbed her hand just in time but found myself flying out of the _'Pyro'_. Luckily, I grabbed the edge of the hatch with my free hand before the both of us fell to our deaths below which are either the platforms or the bottomless pit below the platforms. The _'Pyro'_ began to spin around in circles and it's making it hard to keep my grip on both Alexis and the hatch.

"Nick!" I looked over my shoulder to see yet, another missle straight towards the _'Pyro'_. The missle collided with the ship and near us, I lost my grip with both, the hatch and Alexis "Nick!"

"Alexis!"I tried to reach for her hand but couldn't, if I moved any closer then I'll be falling past the platforms and into oblivion or whatever was below all that darkness. A felt an arm wrap around my mid-section, I looked to my right to see that it was Derek with his team behind him "Derek!? What about Alexis!?"I looked back to my twin sister but she was no longer there. Derek grabbed my grav-com from my back pocket of my shorts and threw it towards the ground and the others threw their grav-coms. My older brother manuvered his body out of his nose-dive and landed in a crouching position. I let out a groan when Derek decided to be a douchebag and drop me on my back after he stood up "What the hell was that for!?" I shouted at him but he didn't reply. Instead, he turned on his heel and walked over to the rest of team once they landed on the ground "Hmph, jackass."

"I heard that, Cross." Derek said bluntly and I growled. I stood up and rubbed my back from being dropped onto the ground "Alright, group 12 should be seven clicks north from our exact location and remember..." I swear my heart skipped a beat at the words that I heard next "Take out any civilians that get in our way."

"Yes, sir!" The group chimed but very few of them seemed unsure about the order.

"Dere-"

"Cross, you are to call me Colonel Cross when on the field." He barked at me.

I clicked my tongue and scowled, "Fine, _Colonel Cross_. What do you mean 'take out any civilians'? I thought we were just supervising the purgees!?"

"Appearantly, we got new orders from Sanctum," Derek informed me "Are you questioning the given orders?"

"Of course not, Colonel Cross," I replied with a hint of sarcasm. I'm not short-tempered but Derek makes it seem like I am "Think about it for a second," I folded my arms over my chest, "What you're about to do is murdering people that don't even deserve to die. I refuse to go along with it."

Derek turned on his heel and marched right to me and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. I slightly cringed, "Nick, this is no time to be arguing about the assignment from Sanctum. We don't have much of a choice but to complete the assignment without a second thought."

"So let me get this straight, you want your little brother to go and kill dozens of people because it's an assignment to do so?" I asked him in a harshest voice I can must muster, "And I wasn't depending on killing people and getting blood on my hands for the first time in my whole lifetime." Derek let go of me and I brushed past him without another word, the group of soldiers moved out of my way.

"Think about what father would think about your actions up until right now." My footsteps came to a halt, what would father think about this? How stupid is Derek? Bringing our dead father into this!?

"Why should I care about what he thinks?" I spat "I'm sure that he doesn't want his children killing innocent people." With that said, I continued walking until I heard several clicks. Again, I came to a stop and turned around to see Derek and his group with their guns trained on me.

"Just think about what you're saying and doing; if you disobey the order then you're nothing but a traitor and we'll be forced to kill you without hesitation. You'll also be disgracing the family name that lived within PSICOM for many years."

* * *

**Alexis's POV**

"Me and my big mouth about joining Nick and his ass to the Hanging Edge," I complained to myself as I walked at a calm pace down the empty platform "Shoot, I can be at home sleeping or something like that," Talking about Nick, I hope he's alright after being knocked off of the _'Pyro'_. I can only sigh, but I doubt he can keep his opinion to himself when he finds out that all civilians are now considered targets.

At that moment, a familiar voice came through the communicator of my helmet _"Alexis! Alexis! Can you hear me!?"_ It's Nick! And he's still alive! His voice is bit difficult to understand _"Alexis!"_

"Nick! I can hear you." I replied with relief.

_"Thank goodness you're still alive!"_ He exclaimed...is he panting? Strangely, I hear voices in the background followed by multiple gunshots _"Damn it all...!"_

"What's happening? Nick!" I turned around only to be met by looking down a barrel of a gunblade "Holy crap..." I muttered. I looked at the owner of the gunblade to see that it's a pink-haired woman. She wore a white vest over a brown sleeveless turtleneck, a brown miniskirt, knee-high boots, a black sleeve that reached up to her bicep, a red cape that's attached to her back on the left side, a red pouch that's strapped around her left thigh, and a...Guardian Corps. pauldron that shows that she's a sergeant.

A man came up from behind, he wore an olive-green coat over a white buttoned-up shirt, tan colored pants, and black boots. He had two gun holsters strapped around both of his thighs. Oddly, he seems to be out of breath.

I put my hands up in surrender, Nick's voice then sounded again _"Alexis! Is something wrong?"_

I faked a laugh, "Of course not, nothing's wrong on my end except that I'm staring down the barrel of a gunblade that's about a blow bullet into my head any second now!" I kept averting my eyes elsewhere besides looking at the woman's glaring blue colored eyes, she's freaking me out already.

_"HA! You think that's bad, try being over here where I'm at and running away from a group of soldiers and Colonel Cross because I refused to go along with the assignment of killing innocent people."_ I knew it.

"You moron!" I shouted at him but before I can say anything else, Nick interrupted me.

_"Sorry, sis. But I gotta go. I'm not the kind of person that can multi-task." _ He said _"And I promise, we'll meet up later after I get out of this situation."_

"Wait! Nick!"I removed my helmet and ran my hand through my black hair. I looked back at the woman to see that same cold-glaring eyes "Okay, before you kill me. I have one thing to say and that I'm on your side." She made no move in moving the gun barrel away from my face "Well my name and reason, convince you?"

"Alright" the woman lowered her weapon but kept her guard up, the action made me sigh in relief and I put my hands down "What's your name?"She asked with a steely tone.

"I'm Alexis Cross, sister of Colonel Derek Cross."

"Cross?" The woman questioned, "You must the daughter of Jackson Cross. One of the many PSICOM soldiers that didn't return from the investigation on Cocoon, 11 years ago."

I smiled wearily, "Yep, he left a few days before my twin brother's and mine ninth birthday." I then muttered "Damn PSICOM." The woman seems to relax a bit and knowing that she can trust me, well...just a tiny bit.

"So, Alexis, knowing that you're one of three of Jackson Cross, why are you against PSICOM in this mess?" She asked.

"Truth be told, I'm not really into 'killing people because I'm told to do so' thing." I replied, "You see, my twin brother, Nick Cross, he's a PSICOM rookie and he disobeyed the order. And now, our older brother, Colonel Derek Cross, is trying to kill him because he refused to cooperate and disgraced the family name that made fame within PSICOM."

"How old are you two?" The man with the afro asked "You and your twin, I mean."

"19."I replied simply.

The woman scoffed, "Is PSICOM recruiting kids now?"

I shook my head, "Our older brother recommended Nick to his CO after he graduated from the PSICOM academy. Mind you, Derek also enrolled Nick into the academy behind his back." On instict, I instantly grabbed my gunblade from its sheathe and whirled around to see a group of five or six PSICOM soldiers running towards us. I smiled cheerfully and fired a bullet into the nearest PSICOM soldier's head. The woman and the man joined the fray.

The woman switched the form of her gunblade to a sword and I did the same, the both of us dashed forward while the man stayed behind and fired his pistols from the distance. I did my best to avoid the bullets as several almost went into my leg and shoulder, I sliced one soldier across his chest followed by slicing his head clean off. I tossed my gunblade up into the air and I dodged an incoming punch from my left, Griffin's Strength came back down. I caught it by the handle and thrusted the blade into the soldier's chest and out of his back.

"Watch it!" The man shouted, I looked over my shoulder to see a PSICOM soldier until a bullet went into the side of his head. I smiled and nodded my thanks, he returned with a nod.

The woman with pink hair sheathed her gunblade before walking away. Her companion trailed behind. Something came to my mind and I jogged over to the woman's side, I stopped in front of her which her and her companion stop as well. She just stared at me.

"Can I come with you guys?" I asked. Reason? To find Nick.

The woman crossed her arms in front of her chest, "What for?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, I just want to find my twin brother." I said, "You must be searching for someone in this mess, right?" Was it just me or did the woman flinch at my question? She looked away "Once I find my twin brother, I'll be out of your way."

The woman stared at me for a few moments then allowed me to join them, I smiled.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, chapter two is finally complete and it took me awhile on how to start it. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it! Until the next time on _Golden Feathers_! See ya!  
Don't forget to review!


	3. Fallen Innocence

**A/N: **Hello everyone~! Welcome the three chapter of _Golden Feathers_! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and other characters belong to me

***Re-edited 4/7/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Three: Fallen Innocence**

* * *

My breath quickened as I picked up my pace, not only was I able to outrun Derek and his group but I was able to encounter one or two groups of five PSICOM soldiers. Of course, killing each of them was a pain in the ass when it's just me by myself.

A bullet swished by my head, I cut down the soldier in front of me and stole his gun out of his dead hands. I whirled around and fired bullets towards two PSICOM soldiers behind me but the other two managed to get behind cover from the barrage of flying bullets. The PSICOM soldier on the right quickly stood up with his gun trained on me, I ducked behind several crates that were stacked on top of each other and switched my gunblade into it's gun form from it's sword form.

I peeked around the corner of the crate behind me, my helmet highlighted the last two PSICOM soldiers in bright orange so that I can so their locations. I turned back forward and let out a long breath before rolling out from behind my cover and dashed forward, I hopped onto the crates and twisted my body around as I leaped and fired bullets at the unexpected PSICOM soldiers. I barely landed on my feet, I tossed the gun aside and sheathed _Griffin's Pride_.

I whirled around and continued walking in calm strides. Seems like Derek was able to spread word about my betrayal on my first day of being a PSICOM soldier. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when two velocycles flew overhead and landed not too far from me. Yep, Derek desperately wants me dead now.

The PSICOM soldiers driving the velocycles started firing bullets and I quickly ran for it. Shoot, I can't handle two velocycles and constant firing bulets all by myself. I picked up my pace as the firing bullets came closer to the heels of my feet then at that moment, my helmet retracted into a ring around my neck and I gasped for air. That's right, Alexis and I got the helmet prototypes of the helmets that PSICOM are creating.

"You can't run forever, Nick Cross!" One of the soldiers shouted at me. Like I know that. My helmet then returned to its original form around my head.

I then came to the broken part of the platform where one side is higher than the other. I jumped onto the wrecked pieces and continued my endless track run from the velocycles that are still on my tail. My helmet highlighted incoming civilians "Crap..." All of them began to scream in fear as the velocycles and I came closer, I skidded to a stop and whirled around so that I was facing the incoming velocycles. One thing for sure, what I'm about to do is going to leave a mark- a really bad mark.

As the velocycles came closer, I slightly crouched and jumped onto the one on the left. The PSICOM soldier driving the velocycle began to panic and tried to kick me off while looking back and forth between me and the way he's driving "Get the hell off!" He growled.

"No, you get off!" I grabbed my gunblade and shot a bullet into his head. After his corpse fell out of the seat, I took his spot and turned my attention to the second velocycle. The PSICOM soldier and I faced each other, he then charged head-on with guns blazing. Getting my timing right, I jumped out of the velocycle before the two collided with each other thus creating an explosion.

After landing which ended up with me crashing into some crates and landing on my back, I became surrounded with armed civilians who trained their guns on me. I put my hands up in surrender, I backed away until something tapped me in the back of the head and I instantly knew that it's a gun. So much for surviving this thing.

"Well, well, look at that." said a voice. I slowly turned around to face a blonde man in a trench coat "A PSICOM soldier surrendering, you don't see that everyday." If I remember, that guy must be Snow Villiers, leader of the group called NORA. How do I know that? PSICOM has intel on them and Derek kept on grumbling about the group as an obvious nuisance. Snow then added, "You seem a bit short to be a PSICOM soldier."

Really? First it was the age and now it's the height. I faked a laugh "Joke all you want but it's not like I wanted to part of PSICOM anyways." Snow raised an eyebrow, my helmet retracted back into a ring and I slightly gasped for air. Damn things leave me breathless...I mean literally. I could hardly breathe while running "I'm Nick Cross, traitor to PSICOM just a few hours ago." I introduced myself "And for your information, I'm 19 and I was forced to join PSICOM." I let my arms fall to my sides.

"So, if you're a traitor to PSICOM," Snow began "Does that make you on NORA's side? Or are you neutral?"

Now that I think about it, I never decided which side...does it really matter? Possibly does, "NORA." I replied simply then Snow patted me on the back with a grin on his face.

"Alright, lay low and you'll be fine." Snow instructed to those without weapons "We'll clear out the area." Just then, PSICOM soldiers appeared and trained their guns at us. My helmet formed again to shield my identity "We're going home together!" Snow pumped his fist into the air but the others remained silent then eventually stood up while the ones that possibly volunteered went off to clear a path "Nick, we could use your help."

I shook my head, "No thanks, I already had my fair share of killing PSICOM troops during my run. I'm going to lay low for the time being." He nodded and ruffled my hair before heading off with the others with a silver-haired woman following him.

As for the rest of the group, we took another route to the spot that Snow and the others decided to meet up at a safe area with the civilians. To entertain myself, I repeatedly shifted my gunblade between its gun form and sword form. I also kept the communicator line open just in case if PSICOM decides to do something more drastic than killing people within their sight.

It was then that I noticed two cloaked civilians lagging behind the group, I stopped in my tracks and sheathed _Griffin's Pride_. From where I can see, the short one is a boy with short silver hair and the other is a girl with orange-red colored hair and she's the same height as I am "Hey, you two okay?" I asked.

The girl looked at me with a smile, "We're fine!" She called out. Wow, high-pitched voice and...very familiar accent. But the boy remained silent, I then decided to walk with them. Though I have to admit, there's an uncomfortable silence during the walk until the girl spoke up "So, what made you...you know..."

"Betray PSICOM, you mean?" I asked and she nodded her head "Well, it's a long story and I don't want to bore you or anything. It mainly involves around my family." At that moment, the girl fell silent again, "What about you?" I asked the silver-haired boy "You seem awfully quiet," He said nothing, I was about to say something until a large skyfleet caught my eye in the distance and the other two followed my line of sight. I rushed up to the platform above us to get a better view of the occuring scene. My helmet retracted. A missle was fired at destroyed the skyfleet but the ship managed to blast a blast a laser at the platform.

The girl and boy caught up to me and watched with shocked expressions as the platform exploded and the screams from countless of people were heard. My helmet formed again and zoomed in, the now destroyed platforms began to fall as well as the people on it. The right side exploded and my helmet zoomed in 100% to the point that I can see Snow hanging onto a piece of the platform while holding the silver-haired woman's hand.

The boy with silver hair screamed as the woman began to fall then entire platform that was left hanging eventually fell. My helmet retracted, I looked at the two from the corner of my eyes to see the girl trying to calm the boy down, an explosion sounded nearby "Come on, we need to move." But the the silver-haired boy remained rooted to the ground until she turned him around and slapped him "We have to move!" The boy nodded.

"This way then," I began to move ahead and the two followed close behind.

* * *

**Alexis's POV**

So here we are, the bridge is still on its course that was set. I sat down near the edge with my legs dangling in the air, my helmet sat in my hands. Several ships flew by below and created an explosion on the platforms.

The pink-haired woman and the man started having a conversation about the purge being Sanctum's doing and how that 'they didn't want to carry out the danger all the way to Pulse, so they just stamped it out here'. Well...that's the woman said. Appearantly the man with the afro got pissed about PSICOM and Guardian Corps.

A loud siren snapped me out of my thoughts and I flinched at the sound, I saw the man point at something. I slowly stood up and walked over to where they were.

_"Attention purge deportees, attention purge deportees! Put down your weapons and surrender immediately! Your removal is the will of the people of Cocoon. Should you, the people of Cocoon, attempt to flee. The Sanctum will deploy every resource if necessary to bring you to justice. This land is no longer your home! Seize all hostilities and surrender now."_

I stared in awe. Truth be told, I've never the Pulse Fal'Cie up close.

* * *

**Nick's POV**

"Holy..." For some reason, I cannot finish my sentence as I stared at the passing Pulse Fal'Cie. Appearantly, everyone was staring. My helmet turned back into a ring around my neck "Okay, so where to-" My eyes slightly widen at the orange-red haired girl once she took of the purge cloak. She wore a pink tanktop, a multi-colored skirt, pelt of fur that went her hips to the knees, and yellow heeled boots.

I was snapped out of my trance when my helmet formed around my head and Alexis's voice came through the communicator _"Nick, are you okay?"_

"A-Alexis! Um...y-yeah, I'm fine." Did I just studder? "Everything's fine on my end, how about you?"

_"Well, considering with the people that I'm with? Our destination is the Pulse Vestige. I'm guessing whatever the woman is looking for, it's in there."_ I nodded in understandment, I looked behind to see the two running off and quickly followed them _"What's your situation?"_

"You know, samething like before- keeping a low profile from Derek, traveling with two others." I replied "So far, everything's fine." Looking forward, I was right behind the two and my eyes unconciously moved to the girl. Why must it be so hard to look away? As if knowing I was staring, the girl looked over her shoulder and I turned my head away.

I heard her giggle, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me forwards "Come on, slowpoke!" The girl dragged me next to her and I walked next to her.

_"Is that a girl I hear in the background?"_ Uh oh, _"You're traveling with a girl aren't you?"_ My face began to heat up from Alexis's soon-to-be teasing voice _"Is she cute?"_ I made no reply _"That pause...she is, isn't she!?"_

From the corner of my eye, two velocycles flew by but the drivers weren't PSICOM soldiers. My helmet zoomed into the drivers and clearly recognized one of them as Snow Villiers. The two velocycles landed near the end of the bridge that we're walking on. Once they landed, several others crowded around him. The boy and the girl stopped and I did the same "Look, Alexis, can we talk about this some other time?"

_"Sure thing, Nick." _ The last thing before I heard was Alexis's non-stop giggling before she hung up on the communicator. I just sighed.

"That's the one," said the silver-haired kid, looking directly at Snow who remained in one of the velocycles.

"Didn't you have something to tell him?" the girl asked, stepping to him. The boy nodded "Alright then," But the silver-haired boy seems to be at a lost of words "Him and I will go with then," Wait, what? The boy said the samething that I just thought.

I eventually agreed, "If it's really important, you might as well get it over with and off of your mind." I suggested and the boy looked at me "Come on," The sound of the velocycle's engine roared and made us cover our ears, Snow then took off towards the Pulse Vestige. So much for that.

Once the group near the second velocycle split up, the girl made her way over to it with the boy and I following her. The girl examined the velocycle then she noticed something wrong with the boy, "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"I want to tell him, but it's just that..." His voice trailed off and he grabbed the girl's forearm.

The girl looked down at his hand then back to the velocycle, "Say, does anyone know how to drive this?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Yeah...I think so," the boy answered.

"Alright!" The next thing I knew was, the silver-haired boy being shoved into the velocycle then shoved me behind him. The girl then placed herself on my lap, my face immediately went red- thank goodness for my helmet "That way!" She pointed.

The boy shook his head, "No, if we go in there...that thing could- it could make us l'Cie. I don't think I can-"

"Too late," I interrupted him, both of them turned their heads to see one of the NORA members yelling at us to get off "Get this thing in the sky!" The boy nodded and quickly revved up the velocycle. The velocycle began to move away from the ground and into the air but it started flying in different directions until the boy was able to take control.

"Get back here!" The guy with the mohwak shouted "You hear me!?"

Ignoring him, the silver-haired boy drove the velocycle towards the Pulse Vestige and hell...he's one a horrible driver.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, there's chapter three and I'm not so proud of it but at least it's done. Now then, hope you enjoyed the chapter~! Until the next time on _Golden Feathers_! See ya!  
Don't forget to review!


	4. The Fal'Cie Awaits

**A/N: **Hello everyone and welcome to another chapter of _Golden Feathers!_ Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and other characters belong to me

***Re-edited 4/7/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Four: The Fal'Cie Awaits**

* * *

I felt two hands grab my arm and slightly shake me awake, "Five more minutes, Alexis..." I groaned groggily then the next thing I knew was a slap to the face and that made me sit straight up "Ow..." I placed my hand on my cheek, it's probably red now.

"Wow, who knew you would be stubborn." I looked to my left to see the girl sitting next to me with a sheepish smile "I didn't mean to slap you,"

I stared at her for a few seconds before smiling, "It's okay," Her face then turned surprise "Trust me, my twin sister gives me a beating just to wake me up."

"And you're fine with that?" The silver-haired boy asked from behind the girl.

"It's a sibling thing," I stated while getting back onto my feet and the girl did the same thing. Something smoking caught my eye, I looked behind the girl to see the velocycle demolished and no longer usable. So much for the velocycle."I guess you guys didn't catch my name earlier when we first met, I'm Nick."

The girl nodded, "My name's Vanille,"

"Hope," The silver-haired boy replied, he then muttered "What were we thinking?"

"Well, since we're here," Vanille began "Let's have a look around." She suggested before skipping off. Hope and I looked at each other before following Vanille to...where ever she was going. We walked up the nearest stairs until Vanille took off skipping towards one of the statues in the vestige.

"Wait, Vanille!" Hope called out to her, we came to a stop to see her climbing on a statue on the left and reached for something.

Vanille eventually grabbed what it was and it appeared to be some kind of rod with multiple hooks. She hopped down and started swinging said weapon around and ending in a pose, "Well?"

"That's uh..." Hope couldn't find the right words to say.

"Interesting? I guess..." I said and Hope nodded in agreement. Vanille continued to swing her weapon around as if fighting.

A hostile growl caught our attention, we turned around to see a Pantheron stalking towards the three of us. I unsheathed _Griffin's Pride_ and switched it to its sword form, Vanille ran up next to me with her weapon, and Hope took out his boomerang. The Pantheron made its first move by charging towards us.

I shot bullets at the Pantheron only to see it skid to a stop and dodged them but it became hooked by the hooks on Vanille's rod. Vanille swung her weapon a full arc and the Pantheron made impact with the nearest statue, it was then smacked several times in the head by Hope's boomerang. I then took the liberty in shoving the blade of my gunblade into it's mouth and through the back of its head. I removed my now bloody gunblade from the Pantheron's head, I grimaced at the sight of the dark green liquid dripping onto the ground. The hooks were instantly retracted from its body and back to Vanille's weapon.

"Now, back to exploring," said Vanille before walking away with Hope and I following behind. During our exploration of the vestige, we encountered small groups of Pantherons and Zwerg Scandroids which aren't much to complain about.

"Serah! Where are you!? Can you hear me!?" That must be Snow.

"That's him," said Hope "Calling himself a 'hero'." He said the last word with much distaste from what I can notice.

The three of us noticed several gold colored beams hit three posts, the glowing l'Cie print of the door faded away and the door opened by itself. We continued our way through the doorway and into a dark hallway that has little bit of light. I looked around but only to see wires and such on the floor, I instantly flinched when something brushed again my arm and it was Vanille.

"Sorry about that," She made a small smile and I did the same.

We walked out of the hallway up more stairs, the silence in the air was then cut by loud moans as well as buzzing. Vanille gasped as the creatures began staggering up the four stairs around us, we formed a triangle with our backs against each other. I took out Griffin's Pride, Vanille and Hope copied me.

"What are these things?" Hope asked.

"They're Cie'ths," Vanille answered his question "l'Cies who failed to complete their focus."

A battle-cry also caught our attention, I turned my head to see that it's Snow charging head-first through the pack of shuffling Cie'ths. He shoved one aside and stopped with his back towards us.

"You guys okay?" He asked and we nodded "Alright then, lets even the odds."

Snow and I went our separate ways while Hope and Vanille remained behind us. I know we just started fighting but these are annoying with their waving arms, I ducked as one Cie'th swung its arms in multiple arks. I thrusted the blade of my gunlade into its chest followed by taking the blade out of its chest and shooting the Cie'th behind me in the head. To my right, Snow was beating the crap out the Cie'ths that surrounded him. I switched my gunblade back to its sword form and began cutting down Cie'ths while dodging their flailing arms.

Eventually, the last of the Cie'ths were now dead on the ground. Vanille and Hope were exhausted from the fight but Snow and I felt fine.

"How did you get in here?" Snow asked all three of us "You gotta leave," Hope just stared at him, Vanille laughed nervously, and I just remained silent. Snow sighed before placing his hands on his hips "Okay, listen, find someplace to hide and keep quiet. Once I find Serah, we'll all leave together." He walked passed us "You'll be home in time for dinner," He grinned before jogging away.

"Wait!" Vanille called out to him and Snow came to a stop at the stairs, "Who's Serah?"

"My wife," Snow turned around "Future wife that is," He muttered "She's a Pulse l'Cie. She's here somewhere along with that fal'Cie. I've got to find her and set her free!" He started down the stairs but was stopped by Hope.

"What's wrong with you!?" He shouted, getting back onto his feet "Why do want to help a l'Cie!? They're the enemy!" Snow turned around again "How can you save a l'Cie!? And not- and not...that's insane!"

Snow chuckled, "Probably, but I got to do something, right?" He then took off running down the stairs "I'll be back!"

You know, it may seem like an insane idea to the others but I can agree with Snow. If someone important in my life became a l'Cie, then I would do whatever I can to help them.

Hope sank back down to his knees, "Should we wait around for him?" Vanille asked "And hitch a ride?"

"I'd rather go to Pulse!" Hope slammed his fists against the ground "Why is this happening to me? When they found the fal'Cie the other day, we were just visiting Bodhum. The army took us, threw us on that train! Because of that guy...mom is..." He looked then back down "And he wants to help a l'Cie?"

I turned from Hope to see Snow walking up the stairs "Hey there, Snow." He waved his hand "Decide to take us along?" Snow chuckled.

"Lets go with him," Vanille grabbed Hope's hands and he looked up from the ground "You got to talk to him, Hope. If you don't take this chance, you'll regret it forever." Hope nodded and Vanille pulled him back onto his feet.

"Lets go!" Snow took off running with us behind him.

* * *

**Alexis's POV**

We made our way into the Pulse Vestige in search of whatever the pink-haired woman is looking for. The vestige is filled with Zwerg Scandroids and Pantherons but are nothing to complain about.

Eventually, we encountered a door with a glowing l'Cie mark on it and it refused to open. The old man and I sat down to relax while on the woman on the other hand, remained hacking at the door with her gunblade. I took the ring off from around my neck and look down at it, I wonder how Nick is doing since I haven't heard a word from him since the appearance of the fal'Cie.

After a while of silence, the old man spoke up, "I think the door is winning."

"Why didn't I listen?" She ignored the old man.

"What was that?" The old man asked.

The woman turned to us, "Cover your ears."

The old man slightly jump, "Blast charges? Alright, hold on." I watched him scurry off to a safe distance from the door, he crouched down and covered his head "Make it happen!" He shouted back.

"You too, Alexis," She instructed.

I blinked several times before doing so, I turned away and covered my ears. After a while, I felt no debris come my way but a faint rumbling sound. I uncovered my ears and looked over my shoulder, the woman sent a nod my way. I stood up and walked over to the old man, I tapped him on the shoulder.

He looked up at me then towards the now open door, "How did she...?"

I shook my head, "I have no idea but we should get going." He nodded, the old man and I then jogged over to the pink-haired woman who added distance between us. We ran up the stairs to meet the sight of shuffling and moaning Cie'ths, so this what it looks like when a l'Cie fails to complete their focus. I have to admit, it's pretty depressing to look at. But what I didn't was that there were also flying l'Cies that spotted us from above. Freaky things.

The woman and I dashed forward with our gunblades in hand and the old guy remained at the back, firing bullets at the flying Cie'ths and the ones staggering towards him. I sliced one across its mid-section and it fell limply onto the ground. I switched my gunblade's form to a gun and began shooting at point-blank range at their heads.

As soon as the Cie'ths were good as dead, the woman continued up the next flight of stairs. The old man and I quickly followed only to run into more shambling and flying Cie'ths, along with Zwerg Scandroids and Pantheron who put up a decent fight.

It was quiet along the way and I gotten curious about what the pink-haired woman was looking for, I picked up my walking pace until I was next to her "I'm curious, what are you looking for? Or better yet, who?"

"I'm looking for my sister," She replied.

"So you're saying that your sister is a-" The woman stopped and I did the same, she then looked at me with a sorrowful look in her eyes. My eyes widen as if I instantly knew the answer. The woman's sister is a Pulse l'Cie "That explains everything then," I said "A l'Cie, huh?"

"Wait, you mean a _Pulse_ l'Cie?" The old man came into our short conversation, the woman nodded, "What was her focus? When she became a l'Cie, what did the fal'Cie order her to do?" He asked "It wasn't 'blow up Cocoon', or anything like that, was it?"

The woman looked down with a sorrowful look, "I didn't ask,"

Cie'ths caught our attention above the next flight of stairs. The old guy continued talking, "Listen to me. When a person gets cursed by a fal'Cie, they become a l'Cie. Then they get given a Focus, right?" The woman looked away and remained silent, the old guy sighed "How do I put this? If they don't carry it out, l'Cie end up as one of those things." He gestured to the Cie'ths above the flight of stairs "What I'm saying is, if you're sister's gone that far...I mean-!" She turned her back towards him "She might still-! How can-? Oh, man." The old guy looked at me and suspected me to say something to help him out with the situation.

I scratched the back of my head, I then snapped my fingers once something came to my mind. Walking over to the woman, I cautiously placed a hand on her shoulder "What the old timer is saying that if your sister managed to complete her given Focus then nothing bad will happen to her in a way. She's still human."

"How do you know that?" The old guy asked me with a raised eyebrow, "L'Cies are forever fal'Cie slaves...don't make your sister suffer." He said the last part to the woman.

The woman glared at him and roughly shoved him away, "Just say it!" She snapped "Any l'Cie...anyone who might ever become a l'Cie should be wiped off the face of Cocoon." She then started walking away before saying "It's people like you that started the Purge in the first place."

The old guy looked at me, "What? It's not like the fal'Cie as a _very_ long list of errands for the l'Cies." Being Nick's sibling, it seems like his smartassness rubbed off on me. Great. The old guy and I continued up the stairs after the woman and just in time to enter the beginning of the fray between the pink-haired woman and the Cie'ths.

After the Cie'ths were taken care of, we continued up more stairs until we got to the point where we saw another pink-haired girl laying on the ground.

"Serah!" The woman rushed over to the girl who seems to be unconscious. She picked up the girl bridal style and turned to us "Time to go. We have to leave before the army- what?"

"That's a Pulse brand," The old guy began. I looked at the brand on the girl's arm to see black pointing both up and down along with a red eye-like shape in the center of the arrows "That girl's a l'Cie."

"Point being?" I asked "She already told us that..."

"Pulse l'Cie are the enemies of Cocoon." He replied, slowly making his hand's way to one of his pistols.

The woman noticed and slightly turned away "So they should die?"

"Listen, if she fails her Focus, you know how that'll end." The old guy informed her.

"And killing her is a mercy?" The woman asked, she then noticed Serah's hand reaching out to her.

"You came..." Serah said weakily. The woman carefully laid her sister against the ground then a new voice came.

"Serah!" I turned around to see a man in a white coat, a boy with silver hair, a girl orange-red hair, and Nick being lowered by a platform. Once the platform landed, the man rushed over to Serah's side.

"Heya, Alexis!" Nick called over to me with the other two behind him. He walked up to me with open arms but I back-handed him across the face "..." He remained silent and fazed by what I just did.

"That was for making me worry so much since our last conversation over the inter-com before entering the vestige," I growled at him. Instead of slapping some more sense into him, I hugged him tightly "You moron," Nick snickered and hugged me back. We let go of each other and turned towards the others to see Serah slowly floating in the air and turn into crystal.

A small light floated down into the blonde man's gloved hand and formed a crystallized tear. He began jumping up and down "Serah! Serah!"

"Why is she turning to crystal?" asked the girl behind Nick and I.

"L'Cie who fulfill their Focus are transformed into crystal and gain eternal life." The silver-haired boy answered her question.

"Just like the stories say," The old guy muttered.

As Serah lowered to the ground, the blonde muttered "Serah...sweet dreams,"

"Sweet dreams?" The woman shoved the old guy back without looking and marched right up to the blonde "She's not sleeping! Serah's...she's-" She pushed him back and looked back at her now crystallized sister.

"She's alive!" The blonde insisted.

The pink-haired woman glared at him, "No!"

"The legend! Remember the legend!" He said "L'Cie who fulfill their Focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah! Eternal life! She's not dead!" He shouted before walking towards the pink-haired woman "Serah's my bride-to-be. I promised to be her's forever! I don't care how many years I have to wait-"

Before he could his sentence, the woman sent a harcore punch his way that sent the blonde falling onto the floor, "It's over!" She snapped "Open your eyes and face reality!"

Suddenly, the whole entire place began to shake. I grabbed my twin brother's arm and held on tightly, his helmet began to form around his head "Nick! What's going on?"

"They're bringing the vestige down!" Nick shouted over the loud noises around us.

Eventually, the entire place stopped shaking. The glowing l'Cie mark on the door ahead of us started to fade. The door slowly opened up.

The blonde man turned to Serah and held her hand, "I'll be right back. Hold on." He whispered. He began walking towards the now open door until the old guy shouted after him.

"Trench Coat. Why are you going?"

"Date with the fal'Cie." He replied simply "Got some things to talk about."

"What?" The old guy trew his hands in the air "You're gonna ask _it_ to help her? Are you out of your mind, kid? That thing wants to chew us up and spit us out!"

"Well, what do you want me to do?" The blonde shouted at him. The old guy was about to say something but shut his mouth instead. The pink-haired woman continued forward and past the blonde "Lightning?"

Nick and I looked at each other, her name's Lightning? We then followed the others close behind, I felt my lips turn into a smirk. Nick seemed to notice and he frowned.

* * *

**Nick's POV**

After walking through a dark corridor for a while, we emerged to see a huge dim room with pipes and cords all over the place.

"So, this is...the fal'Cie." Hope said from behind us, it was more of a statement than a question. In all honesty, I thought that the fal'Cie would be greater-looking than just a hunk of copper and metal.

"Serah's a crystal now," Snow began "You gave her a Focus, and she did it!" No answer from the fal'Cie "You got what you want! Now let her go!" The fal'Cie still didn't responsed. Snow got down on all fours and began to plead "Please. Turn her back! I'll be your l'Cie instead!"

"Fine, you go on begging." Lightning unsheathed her gunblade "Like this thing gives a damn what we want!" She began hacking away at the fal'Cie but her gunblade bounced off after the third strike and she stumbled backwards.

"Lightning!" Snow called.

"It's this thing's fault the Purge started, and it's people who are dying." Lightning muttered "Searh told us to save Cocoon. That means this thing needs to die!" She readied her gunblade.

At that moment, a gold light began to shine through the floor. Alexis flinched and unconsciously bumped into me. A white light shined from the fal'Cie and two metal contraptions rose from the ground. The white light shined even brighter and merely blinded everyone. The metal wall separated to reveal the fal'Cie with a claw-like right body part and a large crystal on its chest.

"C'mon, you really think you can kill a fal'Cie?" The old guy asked Lightning.

"I'm doing this for Serah," She pointed the tip of her gunblade at the fal'Cie. Snow agreed with her and got into his fighting position.

I unsheathed Griffin's Pride, I glanced at Alexis and she nodded in agreement as she unsheathed Griffin's Strength. Both of us went over to Lightning's side "Count us in," Alexis and I said simultaneously.

The old guy muttered something then said, "I'm in," He stood between us and Lightning "As long as you don't mind an amateur. I got these things," Gestured to the pistols in his hands "Might as well us them."

"Thanks." We heard Lightning say and we nodded. The fight with the fal'Cie began.

Alexis and I made our first and charged towards the fal'Cie, we slashed at the crystal until a pair of hands grabbed us by the back collars of our shirts and pulled us back to avoid the large claw-like right body part. Once out of the claw's way, Alexis and I looked over our shoulders to see that it was Lightning and Snow who pulled us away.

We looked back at the fal'Cie and its arm-like parts on each side. In an instant, we changed tactics. Alexis and I stayed back with the old guy and take care of the metal arms while Lightning and Snow go after the fal'Cie. It took a while for the arms to go down and the crystal on the fal'Cie was left unprotected, Alexis stayed back while I joined Lightning and Snow in cracking the crystal. After many slashes, gunshots, and punches, a crack began to form around the center.

Once the metal arms regenerated back by the fal'Cie, Lightning, Snow, and I avoided being sliced. We used the tactic again; the old guy, Alexis, and I stayed back to deal with the metal arms while Lightning and Snow attacked the fal'Cie with everything that they got. The metal arms went down and I joined Lightning and Snow again. The crystal cracked even more.

Everything then went white after I plunged the blade of my gunblade into the crystal.

After the bright white light faded, we found ourselves floating in darkness.

"Where are we?" asked Lightning.

"What's going on?" Snow asked.

I covered my ears from the forming loud bell chimes around us. We looked above us to see the true fal'Cie form in front of us, bright green tendrils shot out towards us and themselves around our limbs. Everyone began to struggle but failed to get loose. The fal'Cie held out one of its hands and smaller tendrils shot out and attached to certain parts of our bodies.

I gritted my teeth as burning pain settled on the left side of my waist.

The tendrils disappeared and we began to fall into the darkness.

Before my eyes closed, a faint voice rang in my head, _"Don't let her go..."_

* * *

**A/N: **OMG! It's about I finished this darn chapter *puts hands in ice-cold water* My hands hurt after writing this T^T Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because it killed a part of me. I also took the liberty in drawing a picture of Alexis and Nick, the link to my DeviantArt account is on my profile (drawing and coloring all in one day -.-") Now then, until the next time on _Golden Feathers_! See ya!  
Don't forget to review~!


	5. Bounded to a Focus

**A/N: **Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter 5 of _Golden Feathers_! Enjoy!

**A/N #2:** I decided to add some stuff about my OCs about their past, I'll be adding more stuff to the other chapters if I need to.

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and other characters belong to me

***Re-edited 5/2/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Five: Bounded to a Focus**

* * *

_"But daddy..." A little boy whined at the man who stood in front of a full-length mirror, the man had short charcoal hair, he adjusted the armor plate of his not-so bulky PSICOM uniform "Do you really have to go?"_

_The boy's dad looked at him from the mirror and smiled gently, he turned around and knelt down on one knee, he placed both of his gloved hands on the boy's shoulders "I know you don't want me to go, Nick." A slight pause "Don't worry about me, I'll be back before you know it." __A small squeak was heard, Nick and his dad turnsd their attention to a small girl who was standing at the doorway "Hey there, Alexis,"_

_Alexis dashed into their father's room and gave him a tight hug "Don't go daddy! I don't want you to go!" She cried with cascading tears._

_Their father blinked several times before hugging her back "Like I said to your brother, I'll be back before we know it. I promise." He then brought Nick into the bonding hug the released the twins and held them at arms length. Alexis was sniffling and hiccuping while Nick was trying his best not to shed a tear "Hey, when I leave for this investigation, there are two boxes in the hallway closets; one for both of you." He said with a bright smile._

_Alexis and Nick looked at each other then back at their father "Really?" Both of them asked._

_Their father nodded, "Now, when I get back, I'll teach you how to use them just in case if your futures change for the military or not." He ruffled their small heads "Remember, I love you guys more than anything in this world."_

* * *

My eyes fluttered open then intsantly recoiled from the bright blue and white colors around me. I forced myself up into a sitting position. As my vision returned to normal, I glanced around to see crystallized waves. I placed a hand on my forehead, man, what a dream.

Looking around, everyone else is still knocked out. My eyes then settled on Vanille. Don't call me a liar but I swear that I've seen her somewhere before- I mean really. True to my mind, Vanille is cute looking especially when she's sleeping- wait...did I really think that?

I then noticed Snow reaching out for something then immediately blurting out, "Serah!" Eventually, everyone began to wake up. I got back onto my feet and helped Alexis up, no doubt our surroundings are blinding her "Is this...for real?" I heard Snow ask, looking at everything around us.

Everyone began to take a look around for themselves except for Hope who was sitting on the ground

"This must be...Lake Bresha?" The old guy asked, he then looked above us "I guess we fell from up there and the lake turned to crystal?" He looked at everyone "Help me out here! I mean, did the fal'Cie do this? How in the world did we end up here!?"

"How should I know?" Lightning turned away from him.

"Nick," I looked at Alexis "Can you pinch me? I think I'm dreaming..." I blinked a few times before pinching my sister on her arm which made her yelp "Okay, I'm not dreaming,"

"Obviously," I snorted, "I mean how can you dream up with something like this with a group of strangers?" Alexis glared at me and wacked me on the back of the head "Someday you're going to be the death of me,"

"And I'll take pride in that," She retorted and I scoffed in response.

Vanille went to her knees, "We're alive, but how?"

"Serah!" Snow answered immediately. Surely Serah is going to be the answer to everything. As if reading my mind, Alexis wacked me the head again "No one survives a fall from that high, not without a miracle. Serah saved us!"

"Serah?" Lightning asked "Listen, it's all your faut she got-!"

"Watch out!" Snow rushed to Lightning's side and moved her back. Snow blocked the Cie'ths arm and fended it off, his forearm began to glow bright blue and the Cie'th crashed into the ground from Snow's uppercut "What did I...?" He gripped his forearm "Just do?"

"You used magic!" Hope shouted, he sounds afraid. All of us turned to see more Cie'ths heading towards us "You used the power of l'Cie! The fal'Cie cursed us! We're l'Cie now!"

Lightning unsheathed her gunblade "Right,"

Alexis and I unsheathed our gunblades as well and switched them into their sword forms. The others took care of the Cie'ths nearest to them, Alexis and I dashed towards the one in front of us.

The Cie'th swung its arm in a full arc, I skidded to a stop and ducked just in time. Alexis planted her foot square on my back followed by jumping over its head and aiming a roundhouse kick its head. The Cie'th staggered a bit to its right, my gunblade became engulfed with flames. Getting ahead of the Cie'th, I slashed it across its midsection and collapsed onto the ground.

"Nick! Your gunblade is on fire!" Alexis shouted at me.

"Holy crap!" Yep, I began to panic and instantly threw it in a random direction. Alexis wacked the back of my head "Ow!"

"You moron! You don't go throwing your gunblade in a random direction!" My twin scolded me "Especially when it's on fire!"

"Then you shouldn't make it sound like it's going to kill me!" I scolded back. As twins, we went into the childish arguement of 'uh huh' and 'nu uh'. We immediately shut our mouths went we got wacked on the back of the heads at the sametime. Alexis and I yelped.

"That's enough you two," said Lightning with an even more scolding tone "There's no need for your childish arguements. Understood?" Geez, make it sound like we stole a cookie from the cookie jar before dinner. Alexis and I nodded. Lightning then handed me my gunblade, I grabbed it and sheathed it "Consider yourself lucky that it struck the Cie'th instead of me."

Snow then spoke up, "So, I guess we really are l'Cie." He said looking at his forearm.

Lightning clicked her tongue in irritation and annoyance.

The old guy looked down at his chest to see the mark on his chest that barely was covered by his shirt "Looks like it," he sighed.

"You too?" Snow looked at Vanille.

"Uh huh, right here." Vanille lifted up part of her skirt to show the brand on her upper thigh.

I was wacked on the back of the head "Quit staring," Alexis muttered, I looked away with an embarassed blush on my face.

"What about you two?" Snow turned to us. Alexis pulled down the collar of her shirt to show the l'Cie brand below her collarbone, the brand is completely covered by the collar of her shirt. I lifted the bottom of my shirt to show the brand on the left side of my waist.

Lightning look at everyone in turn "L'Cie to the last," She said.

Hope fell to his knees, "Why me?" He looked at Lightning "I don't even know you! But you had to go and attack that thing!? Just leave me alone! It's your fault...it's your fault my- you could've..." Hope went to his feet "All of this is yours and Serah's fault!" He suddenly accused Snow.

"Watch it!" Snow snapped. Hope stumbled backwards and onto the ground. He moved back from Snow until he bumped into Lightning's legs. Lightning just looked at him, Hope scurried away and covered his head with his hands. Snow sighed, "Sorry,"

Vanille went over to Hope and placed her hands on his shoulders, "It's okay, everything's going to be alright," She told him "You'll see." Vanille then pulled Hope to his feet "Come on, off we go." They began to walk ahead of us. The rest of us followed from behind with Lightning at the very back.

We walked a bit longer and bumped into a few groups of Cie'ths along the way. As we desended down a slope, Lightning spoke up "Okay, if we don't know our Focus, how do we complete it?"

"I think...I saw it." Vanille said.

"Saw what?"

The old guy then came into the conversation, "That is how a Focus comes down, people. The fal'Cie? They don't spell it out with clear-cut instructions. All you get is a hazy glimpse." Snow and Lightning copied each other's pose and stared at the old guy "Well, that's what they say. You know, legends and all." He continued mumbling about the legends.

Lightning then turned to Hope, "Did you see anything?"

Hope sort nodded his head "I uh- I just...it's all kind of foggy, but...I saw this big- I mean _towering_-"

The old guy then cut him off "W-wait a minute. Hold on now. Did we _all _have the same dream?"

"Ragnarok," Lightning and Snow said simutaneously.

"So, we all saw the same dream." said the old guy "We all heard that same voice."

Same voice? I slightly turned away from the group and tuned out of the conversation. After we were branded, I heard a voice in my head before blacking out but it was different. The voice was faint but still a whisper, I think the voice said 'Don't let her go...' I folded my arms over my chest, don't let who go? No doubt it's a girl but who exactly? Great. Not only do I have to worry about our Focus but the disembodied male voice as well.

A hand was placed on my shoulder, I snapped out of my thoughts and turned around to see Alexis. She frowned "Are you alright?" She asked "You were staring off into space."

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about..." Alexis raised an eyebrow "About a voice that I heard before. I heard it in my mind and it said 'Don't let her go'."

"Don't let _who_ go? Exactly?" I shrugged my shoulders "Well, you can have the time you need to think about it once we're out of this place, okay?" I just nodded.

"Come on you two!" Alexis and I turned to see Lightning in the distance, the both of us nodded and walked over to her "Come on, we don't need two of ours getting lost," Alexis and I smiled as Lightning ushered us in the direction that the others went.

As we continued to walk, Lightning and Alexis explained everything to me about our Focus- well, mostly everything since they were still unsure. We caught up with the others only to see Snow missing from the group. He then jumped down with a look on his face that he came up with a conclusion.

"We fight it! Ragnarok!" Snow concluded about our Focus "That's the reason we're l'Cie. To stop it- to keep Cocoon safe!"

"Yeah, why don't give us one reason to believe that? One reason." The old guy didn't seem much to be convinced at this point.

"Serah." Snow immediately answered "She said to protect Cocoon, and then she turned to crystal. That's the proof right there. She completed her Focus! That means ours is to save Cocoon." He turned to Lightning and continued "Serah's fal'Cie was the same as ours." Then towards the others "Our Focus has got to be the same. We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Ragnarok! It makes sense!"

"The hell it does!" The old guy said "You're grasping at straws, son! Pulse fal'Cie are Cocoon's enemies. We just got recruited by one of them. If I were a betting man...I'd put us on the other side."

"So Serah's an enemy too?" Snow asked "Well I don't buy it!" He then walked over to Lightning who just turned her back towards him "We have the power to save Cocoon. If we work together and carry out our Focus-"

In a flash, Lightning had her gunblade held up against Snow's neck "Our Focus? The fal'Cie took Serah from us, and you want to help it? Whose side are you on?"

"Freeze!" All of us turned to see a group of PSICOM soldiers with their guns trained on us. Two more soldiers flanked from behind "Place your hands behind your heads!" That guy must be the commander of the group. We did what he said. Lightning dropped her gunblade onto the ground and did the same "Alexis and Nick Cross, front and center. Now."

Alexis and I looked at each other and casted a glance at everyone else before walking forwards. Two of the soldiers came forward and handcuffed us "Hey! What's the deal with the handcuffs!?" I exclaimed but instantly shut my mouth when one of the PSICOM soldiers punched my stomach, I collapsed onto my knees. The PSICOM soldier behind me aimed the barrel of his gun at the back of my head. Another PSICOM soldier aimed his gun at the back of Alexis's head as well.

"How do you know what the we look like?" Alexis asked and simple as that, the captain showed us two pictures of us

"Jackass," I muttered under my breath, Alexis just sighed.

We were then shoved forward just as the captain of the group moved towards Lightning, "You fall off the Purge train?"

"Maybe."

"Are you talking back to me?" The captain marched right up to her and pointed his gun at her "Huh!?"

"Nice gun," In a flash, Lightning knocked the gun out of his hands and elbowed him in the face followed by sending him into the air and ending it with a swift kick. The other soldiers started barking orders, Lightning stomped on her gunblade and caught it while mid-air.

As the group began attacking the PSICOM soldiers, I knocked down PSICOM soldier behind me with a swift kick. He stumbled back to his feet, I immediately got up during his scramble and heabutted his head but not before I made a roundhouse kick at his head. He stumbled backwards and only to be obliberated by a giant fireball.

I turned to see that it was Vanille who made that ball of fire, I nodded my thanks and she smiled before turning to another soldier. I turned to Alexis who elbowed a PSICOM in the gut behind her, followed by catching him by the chin with her foot as she back-flipped away. The PSICOM soldier fell backwards onto the crystallized ground.

After the PSICOM soldiers were finished with, the group went over to the PSICOM corpses while I searched the captain's body for the keys.

"I thought they'd be tougher than that," said the old guy looking down at one of the bodies "These guys are PSICOM, yeah? Suppose to be cream-of-the-crop," He added.

"Yeah, but PSICOM's an anti-Pulse task force," Snow explained "Haven't fought a war in centuries. Bunch of rookie troops swinging around overpriced toys,"

"So, from what you're telling me...it sounds like a regular old soldier, has got more training than special forces." said the old guy.

"Nothing for us l'Cie to be afraid of," said Snow.

"Cut the crap," Lightning piped in "Their grunts might be green, but PSICOM's elites are cold-blood beasts. They hit the field and it's game over."

"I second that statement," I called over my shoulder as I began to unlock our handcuffs before turning back towards the group "I may be a PSICOM rookie that doesn't give a crap what soldiers PSICOM have in their arsenal. But I would be caught dead in their sights, and in a snap," I snapped my fingers "They can kill you like a simple training dummy- that is, if you let your guard down."

"Oh-oh! Then let's run away!" said Vanille then pointing to a random direction "Ciao!" She began running off in the direction that she pointed to.

"Hey, wait!" The old guy called after before she was out of sight, he sighed and a small chocobo chick flew out of his afro "What's a man to do?" He asked the chocobo in his hand. He began walking in the direction that Vanille skipped off to with Snow and Hope behind him. Alexis and I eventually followed them with Lightning behind us.

After a while of walking, the group came to another stop "Weird, huh? Of all the messed up ways to meet, I guess introductions are in order. I'm Snow- Snow Villiers." He then looked at Hope "Short stuff?"

"Hope. Hope Estheim."

"What about her?" Vanille gestured to Lightning, sadly, Lightning didin't say anything.

"Bodhum Security Regiment. Goes by Lightning. Last name's Farron. First name? Anyone's guess." said Snow with a chuckle.

Vanille nodded "I'm Vanille,"

"Sazh Katzroy. Good to meet you."

"Alexis Cross, and this is my twin brother, Nick Cross," My sister introduced us both, I nodded.

After our introductions and small conversations, we continued our way through the crystallized Lake Bresha with Lightning leading the group. During our journey through Lake Bresha, we encountered small groups of PSICOM trackers, wardens, and Pantherons.

As we desended down a Purge train that became crystallized with the lake, a hand grabbed my sleeve and forced me to stop walking. I looked to see that it was Alexis, she pointed forward and indicated that I almost bumped into Lightning, who was strangely staring at something in the distance. She then muttered "Serah".

Snow dashed passed us and Lightning and towards his crystallized bride-to-be. The rest of us followed him, Snow grabbed a large piece of metal and began digging through the crystallized ground. Alexis and I stood at a distance as Vanille and Sazh began to help. Lightning watched them as well, she muttered something like "This is good-bye" before turning her back towards them and walking away.

Snow was the first to notice "Lightning?" He dropped his metal tool and walked over to her "You're just gonna leave?"

"PSICOM will be here soon." said Lightning "If they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?" She began walking away again until Snow began to speak.

"If I leave her, then I'll never know," said Snow "We'll be fine, I can handle anything they throw at us. No one will die. I'll protect Serah and Cocoon"

Lightning turned around, she marched right up to Snow and punched him square in the face that made fall backwards onto Sazh "Does she look protected to you?" She snapped.

"I can save her!" Snow got back up again but only to met another punch to the face. Again, he crashed into Sazh. Poor old timer.

"What can you possibly do?" asked Lightning, balling her hand into another fist as Snow began to get back up.

"Whatever it takes!" Snow replied. Lightning released her fist and looked away. Wow, talk about brother-and-sister problems...especially in a situation like this.

Sazh got back onto his feet and sighed heavily, "You two are hopeless." He muttered, walking past Lightning "You just can't admit it. You want to stay as much as he does."

At that moment, I heard a wurring sound. I turned around from the others and began walking down the crystal slope. I looked up to see scorpion-like machine "Sazh! Above you!" I yelled.

Sazh instantly reacted at the sight of the machine, he backwards onto the ground and began shouting out "No, no, no, no, no, not now!"

The scorpion-like machine landed and shook the ground with its tail swaying side-to-side behind it. If I remember from the academy, that's a Manasvin Warmech. Two of its pinsers are missing along with pieces of its armor. Its search light move from one spot to another. I instantly moved next to Sazh with Griffin's Pride in its sword form with Alexis following.

Lightning, Snow, Hope, and Vanille stopped what they were doing and immediately ran towards us with their weapons drawn.

The Manasvin Warmech began the fight by shooting lasers. Lightning, Alexis, and I took the front lines while Snow took the hits, Sazh fired off magic spells, and Vanille and Hope were our healers. Our attacks seemed to be doing some damage until the Manasvin Warmech took its attention off of Snow,and it stopped firing lasers.

"Everyone! Watch it!" Alexis shouted, the Manasvin Warmech spun in a full circle with its tail straight out. Alexis and I dropped to the ground, Lightning jumped over the tail with ease while the others moved back to avoid the end of the tail. We resumed our attacks and pieces of its armor began to either drop to the ground or fly off into the sky. The Manasvin Warmech started to whip its tail around which caused large shards of crystal around us.

Everyone did their best to avoid the sharp crystal shards flying all over the place. One shard skimmed passed me and almost impale my shoulder "Hey! Watch it you stupid junk of metal!" I shouted.

"Nick!" I heard Vanille shout out, I looked over my shoulder to see her pointing at something "Look out!" I whirled around to see the machine's tail sweep me off of the ground from my gut and swing me around in the air.

I held onto the tail for dear life, Alexis then shouted "Don't let go!"

"What you think I'm trying to do!?" I shouted back. The Manasvin Warmech stopped swinging its tail, and I let out a breath. I looked down to see myself directly over its head, I held Griffin's Pride in a back-handed fashion. I climbed onto the tip of its tail and carefully stood up, I stumbled a bit but caught my balance. Before the tail started moving again, I front-flipped off the tip and landed in a crouch on the machine's head.

I grasped my left side of my ribs. Great, several of my ribs are broken. As soon the Manasvin Warmech split its head open to release a large beam, I forced the blade of my gunblade into its head and casted a thunder spell. The electricity coursed through the gunblade and into the machine thus making it go hay-wire.

Everyone began backing away as the Manasvin Warmech's tail began to swing in all directions. The machine came to a direct halt and collapsed to the ground while shaking the ground in the process, I sighed in relief before dislodging my gunblade from its head and sheathing it quickly. My right hand is still on the left side of my ribs and breathing is sort of difficult. I finally made it to the group before falling onto my knees.

"Nick!" Alexis came rushing to my side "Are you okay!?"

"Besides the point that my ribs on my left are nearly broken and I have a hard time breathing?" I asked "I'm perfectly fine. Thank you for asking." Alexis sighed at my scarcasm. I slightly flinched when I felt a soft hand press against my ribs, I looked to see that it was Vanille.

"This is going to hurt a little," While Vanille casted a cure spell, I gritted my teeth as my ribs began to heal.

I looked up from Vanille to see Lightning walking past us but her way was then blocked by Snow "You're leaving?"

"We want to help Serah too," said Sazh before sighing heavily, "But without tools...we could be digging for days. The army's on our trail. For now, we've got to keep moving. For now."

"So I just abandon her, and save myself?" Snow argued back.

Vanille patted me on the head to say that she's done. Alexis and Vanille, both helped me back onto my feet "What about your focus?" Lightning asked and all of us turned to her "What happened to banding together and saving the world?" She shot another question "Isn't that what you promised? Now you want to forget it all and die right here?" Snow remained silent while Sazh just sighed "Snow? You're nothing but talk." Lightning continued her way past Snow.

"Lightning!" Snow quickly spoke up and Lightning stopped in her tracks "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus..._and_ keep Serah safe. That's my promise."

"Great job so far," Lightning said before walking away.

Sazh began to follow, "Stay out of trouble," said Snow and Sazh patted him on the shoulder and continued after Lightning. Alexis patted me on the back and walked on ahead with me by her side "Samething goes for you two, don't push Lightning's buttons, alright?" Both of us nodded with a smile before rushing off after Lightning.

Eventually, Alexis and I caught up with Sazh and Lightning, followed by Vanille and Hope.

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**A/N: **Okay, I'm going to stop right here because I need to give my hands a break from writing very long chapters ^^; Anyways, I would to thank those who favorited, alerted, and reviewed~! It makes me feel proud about myself (Just kidding XD) But still, thank you! Now then, until the next time on _Golden Feathers_! See ya!  
Don't forget to review!


	6. Casting the Net

**A/N: **Youtube sucks! *starts bawling like a child* Such a pain in the ass to find the right cutscenes that I need! *pouts* Anyways, onto the story! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and its OCs belong to me

***Re-edited 4/7/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Six: Casting the Net**

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It wasn't long since Snow seperated himself from the group to stay with Serah and try to dig her out.

The group went silent for the time being as we continued through Lake Bresha until we came upon Breshan Bass- which are a pain in the ass since they keep whipping you in the face with their tails. As usual for our tactics: Lightning, Alexis, and I provided the front line while Sazh casted magic spells, and Vanille and Hope were our healers.

After defeating the Breshan Bass, we continued forward and decended down a steep slope only to run into a group of Pantherons. We brought out our weapons and the bioweapons came charging at us like we're lunch.

I jumped back as one tried to pounce on me, the Pantheron growled and it started lashing at me with its claws but I kept on dodging from getting scratched. And idiotically, I accidently tripped backwards and onto the ground. The Pantheron then took the opportunity pounced on me, I held it away with my left forearm against its neck. I shifted Griffin's Pride into its gun form and aimed the barrel directly inside the Pantheron's mouth, I pulled the trigger and the bioweapon fell limb and dead.

I moved the Pantheron off of me before returning to my feet but was instantly knocked over and something landed on my lower back "Sorry, Nick," said Vanille. A Pantheron leaped over and skidded to a stop, it turned around and growled. It was quickly taken care of when Alexis ran the blade of her gunblade into it's head. Vanille and I let out a breath.

"Geez, Vanille," Alexis began as she removed the blade from the Pantheron's head "You just met my twin brother and you're already taking-"

"Alexis, finish that sentence and I swear on my soon-to-be grave that you wished you were dead first," I growled with my face heating up from both embarassment and anger, Alexis began to wave her hands in surrender. I scowled, Vanille lifted herself from my lower back and I stood up after her "Lets go before we're left behind by the others." I sheathed Griffin's Pride before walking away. I stopped by my twin sister and punched her on the arm.

"Ow!" She yelped "What the hell, Nick!?"

"That's from Vanille and me," I said simply and continued walking with a grumbling twin sister and a quiet Vanille trailing behind me.

We caught up with the others and right when Sazh said, "Okay, do not shake the slippery tube! We cool on this? Do not shake the slippery tube!" Lightning went first and ran across the tube with no problem at all. Hope went next, he had difficulty but managed to make it onto the otherside. Sazh went after him, followed by Vanille and me.

"Don't worry, Alexis!" Vanille called to my twin sister who was still on the otherside "It's only scary if you look down!" She then suggested "You should close your eyes, if you're that scared!"

Alexis made it across the tube and we continued forward but only to be ambushed by a group of Bloodfang Bass. Lightning took point in the group and trudged on forward. Deciding to eavesdrop on PSICOM, my helmet took its shape around my head. I began fidgeting with the inter-com of my helmet, nothing but plain orders until I heard Derek's pissed off voice.

_"The hell you mean 'they're dead'!" _Derek shouted before sighing in a frustrated way _"Put the assignment on hold for now and get back to the assigned mission."_ Lucky us _"Find any Purge survivors, take them out."_ Determined as always to get the job done.

My helmet retracted and I caught the middle of Vanille and Hope's conversation "Still couldn't talk to him?" She asked "You'll never get past this if you don't say something."

"Words won't change anything." Hope replied "But next time we meet, he'll learn exactly how I feel." No doubt they're talking about Snow and what happened at the Hanging Edge.

A large wall of crystal in the distance caught our attention, I then looked at the gunship with a turrent. Lightning walked over to it and looked closely at it "You think it still works?" I asked her.

"Lets find out," Lightning jumped onto the gunship and swiped her gunblade at the turrent. The turrent shot out bullets and towards the crystal wall that made it crumble to the ground and appearantly surprised a group of Bloodfang Bass and Breshan Bass. Again, more pain in the ass.

We continued forward through a short tunnel, Sazh went to scout up ahead. After a while, we caught to him but see to see him trembling and pointing at another bioweapon of PSICOM "What is that?!" Sazh exclaimed.

"That's an Alpha Behemoth, for your information." I replied.

The Alpha Behemoth noticed us and roared loudly. Lightning and I unsheathed our gunblades and headed straight for the behemoth while everyone else spread out and hit the Alpha Behemoth with magic spells.

The behemoth swiped its huge claws at me but I back-flipped in time before getting scratched. At the moment, I'm drawing the behemoth's attention while the others attack it "Keep it up, Nick!" Lightning called out to me but I was too busy to reply. The behemoth roared and charged straight towards me with its horns aligned with the ground. I quickly sheathed Griffin's Pride and jumped out of the behemoth's way as it crashed into the crystal wall behind me. I let out a breath of relief.

The Alpha Behemoth got back up and roared at me before charging again "Nick! Move!" Hope shouted. I charged towards the behemoth, I planted my foot on its head and the behemoth heaved me up into the air, from above, I saw Hope hurl a fireball directly at the bioweapon. The Alpha Behemoth crashed against a crystal wall and fell limb onto the ground. I manuvered my mid-air and landed in a crouch.

"Glad that's over," I said standing back up.

"No kidding," Hope agreed.

As walked further into Lake Bresha; velocycles and gunships flew over head. Alexis and I looked at each other before looking forward. We knelt down and approached the edge to see a large cruiser parked at the very bottom, few velocycles passed by in every direction. My helmet took its shape around my head and I tuned into the connection of PSICOM captains and colonels.

"They must be hunting down Purge survivors." Sazh said.

"I hope eveyone made it out okay," said Vanille and Sazh agreed.

"But nowhere is safe for them now," Sazh added then he slammed his palm onto the ground "Damn it! Just 'cause they shared a neighborhood with a fal'Cie...they get treated like Pulse-tainted rats."

"People really hate Pulse, don't they?" asked Vanille in a sad tone.

"Not _hate_." Sazh moved onto his knees and Vanille looked at him "More like _fear_. Tens of millions of people...all scared of Pulse boogeymen." He looked down at his l'Cie brand "They'd be shaking in their beds every night if they knew...that l'Cie like us were around."

"But...they Purged that entire town!" Vanille replied.

"It's crazy, I know," said Sazh "But the Sanctum fal'Cie did nothing to stop it. Up until now, Eden's always stepped in...to correct their errors in judgement. Guess humans aren't worth the effort. Figure they'll let us just kill each other off."

Hope then stood up, "L'Cie are not human."

Alexis went to stand up but I grabbed her hand and pulled her back down, I shook my head. How can Hope say that we're not human? He's a l'Cie as well, and that means he calling himself an alien.

"Listen you, that's enough!" Vanille stood up instead and grabbed Hope's wrist, she looked down at his brand and let go of his wrist before walking a few steps away from the group "We're still alive. That's something."

After Vanille said that, the ground began to shake, "Something is coming our way." said Alexis.

"There!" Lightning pointed above us. We looked up to see at least four gunships zoom past our position and head towards the large cruiser then seperated into groups of two "They're sealing off the area. They're trying to trap the stragglers." said Lightning then turned to us "We've got to get moving before we're caught in the net."

We nodded in agreement before moving forward in a jog. Instead of the the usual monsters, we started to encounter PSICOM Trackers but thankfully that there were only two to begin with. Lightning and Alexis quickly disposed of them once they had a second to turn around.

I noticed Alexis's helmet take its shape around her head, "There's three up ahead." She informed us.

"How do you know that?" I heard Hope ask her.

"PSICOM's new prototype helmets," I gestured the ring around our necks "The helmets can detect any moving object around you. I can guess you can say that it's a _gift_ from Colonel Cross."

Just as Alexis said, three enemies were up ahead and they're Watchdrones. I unsheathed Griffin's Pride and went for the nearest Watchdrone and thrusted the blade into its chest thus tearing out its power core, I kicked it off of the blade and shifted my gunblade into its gun form. I turned around to another Watchdrone and shot a bullet at its head but the bullet just bounced off. The Watchdrone turned around but only to have a blade shove through its back and out of its chest. Alexis then shoved the Watchdrone off of the blade. The last Watchdrone exploded from being hit by a fireball that was sent by Hope.

We then encountered three PSICOM soldiers, two trackers and one ranger.

"Sir!" The PSICOM ranger exclaimed into the inter-com of his helmet "We spotted the Cross siblings!" Like hell he's going to report our location. I dashed past the two PSICOM Trackers and towards the ranger with my gunblade in my hand. Once close enough, I leaped forward and slashed him across the chest before he can say anything else about us.

I sighed in relief and turned back around to see the others heading towards me, Derek's voice was then heard from the inter-com of the ranger's helmet _"Give us your coordinates, soldier."_ He said _"Private Alexander! Give us the coordinates of your position!"_ I turned back to look at Alexis and she nodded her head _"Private!"_

I removed the helmet from the ranger's head and gripped it in my left hand. An electric current went through me and into the helmet thus short-circuiting it. Smoke rose from the helmet and I dropped it onto the ground. I started waving my hand to get rid of the hot sensation on my palm "Ow..."

"Come on, Nick," Vanille pushed me after the others who are now climbing a large crystal cliff with ledges on it and of course, Lightning is ahead of everyone "Everyone's ahead of us, even Sazh." I looked up to see Sazh struggling to get from one ledge to the next. I let out short sigh before jumping for ledge to ledge "Hey! Wait for me!" Vanille shouted.

In short time, Vanille and I passed the old timer who was having a hard time getting up the last few ledges "Come on, Sazh, it's not that hard to climb." I told him. Sazh chuckled wearily as he shook his head "See you at the top," We continued to the top to see Alexis, Hope, and Lightning waiting for us. Sazh reached the top and we continued forward at to the point where we can see from above.

Vanille rushed near the edge and looked around "Whoa. This whole place is crystal!" She exclaimed.

Couple of gunships can be seen from the distance and looking for Purge survivors- no doubt.

Sazh let out a heavy sigh "I wonder what it would be like. To become crystal, I mean."

"It does sound nice- despite being in that status for eternity" Alexis said, placing one hand on her hip.

Vanille giggled then turned to Sazh, "You're gonna complete your Focus?" She asked.

"Maybe. If I knew what it was." said Sazh "I probably don't want to know."

Vanille went silent for a moment before speaking to Lightning, "Hey, Lightning. Did Serah say anything to you about her Focus?"

Lightning placed a hand over where her brand is on her chest "Nothing."

"Oh, you know what? She probably didn't want to worry you." Vanille commented.

"Or she just didn't think she could trust me," Lightning added before moving on ahead.

We went after Lightning and ran into a group of three Watchdrones which are nothing but a simple chore. Alexis's helmet took shape around her head, "No enemies are present- as far as the helmet can show." She informed everyone.

"That's good," said Sazh "Gives us a break from fighting for a while." Hope and Vanille nodded in agreement except for Lightning- who remained silent. Silence settled within the group, it was both normal and uncomfortable at the sametime.

We walked out of a long crystallized tunnel to see city-like ruins in our sight. Alexis grabbed my wrist and started pulling up the stairs after her, "Alexis, I can walk up the stairs on my own." I told her.

"I know that, but this place is amazing looking!" She replied. Once we reached the top of the stairs, she looked around in awe. I looked behind me to see the others close behind us, a loud roar caught my attention. I turned back around to see Alexis fighting an Alpha Behemoth one-on-one. The behemoth lifted one of its paws, I casted a quick Aero spell towards Alexis and it blew her out of the behemoth's way before it can strike her "Thanks Nick!" She called out after landing in a crouching position.

I shook my head in disbelief before unsheathing Griffin's Pride and made a dash towards the behemoth. Lightning raced past me and beat me to the Alpha Behemoth first, dang is she fast! My gunblade began engulfed in flames and slashed the behemoth's side. The behemoth roared, a fireball hit the bioweapon square in the face thus making it recoil from the attack.

The behemoth began staggering backwards while pawing its face, Lightning and I looked at each other and nodded. She rushed forward and sent the Alpha Behemoth into the sky with an upward swing of her gunblade. Alexis, Lightning, and I followed the behemoth into the air and slashed our gunblades at it without stopping. Lightning went for the kill, she slammed the heel of her foot on the Alpha Behemoth's back which sent the bioweapon crashing onto the ground.

We landed on the ground and the gang joined back together, Alexis and I put our gunblades back in their cases. Again, I punched my sister on the arm "Ow!" Alexis rubbed her arm "What was that for?"

"And you call me reckless," I said simply before following the others up another flight of stairs. Walking up the stairs, we encountered a group of four; three Watchdrones and one PSICOM Ranger.

After defeating that group, we walked up a ramp to another part of the ruins. "Even the flames turned to crystal," Sazh pointed to the bright large orange crystals around the ruins "This is ridiculous," I couldn't agree more- first, it's the water of Lake Bresha then it's the flames of the ruins. Before decending down the stairs, we spotted a machine moving about the grounds and one PSICOM Ranger.

Alexis's helmet formed and she looked around "Besides those two below us, there's three more over there." She pointed towards the three figures in the distance "Two PSICOM soldiers and one machine." Her helmet returned into a ring "And I know a simple way in getting rid of them,"

"Really?" Vanille asked and Alexis nodded "What do you have in mind?"

"I thought you never ask," Alexis jumped down from the large hole on the side of the stairs and landed perfectly behind the machine which is also known as a Crusader. Alexis snuck up behind the Crusader and took off its control panel cover on its back, she rearranged the wires and pressed buttons. The Crusader powered down then booted up before knocking out the PSICOM Ranger and charging towards the other three. Alexis signaled us that it's okay to move forward.

Lightning headed down the stairs and we trailed behind her, then meeting Alexis at the bottom "So, you're like a hacker?" Hope asked her.

"You got that right!" Alexis smiled with a thumbs up. We moved on and passed the two dead PSICOM Rangers and two fairly damaged Crusaders "Man, what a waste of a machine." She muttered, I rolled my eyes. Alexis has always been a tinkerer since she was 15. My twin sister informed us of any nearby enemies but there were none for the moment.

Moving forward, we traveled up more flights of stairs until we reached the top. We had two paths- the path on the left is crawling with PSICOM soldiers and Pantherons while the path in front of us is just a shortcut to avoid any fights. Choosing the shortcut, Lightning jumped onto the rubble and moved through the opening above the rubble. We followed close behind and I'm grateful that Lightning chose the shortcut because I didn't want to deal with any PSICOM soldiers at the moment.

But it seems like I spoke too soon when we spotted a group of five PSICOM soldiers blocking our path up ahead "Two Rangers, two Trackers, and one Executioner." said Alexis and Lightning nodded.

We took out our weapons and the group of PSICOM soldiers noticed us, the Executioner charged towards with his team following. Alexis and the others spread out while I took my fight against the Executioner, he thrusted his spear forward and I sidestepped to my right. I aimed my gunblade towards the Executioner's head but I barely missed his head as he moved. He sweeped his spear close to the ground and swiftly knocked me off of my feet.

Before the Executioner can make his next move, he was blown towards the rubble by an Aero spell "Slowing down, Nick?" I turned away from the Executioner to see Vanille holding out her hand to me with a smile. I blinked several times and scoffed, I grabbed her hand and she helped me up "Seems like 'almost getting yourself killed until someone saves you' is your thing, huh?"

"No...not really," I replied stubbornly, sheathing my gunblade. Vanille giggled and poked my forehead, then I poked her forehead in return before heading towards the others. Vanille then caught up to me and matched her walking pace with mine "It's just when enemies when the upper-hand in a fight."

"Right," Vanille giggled and elbowed my side, I shook my head. We caught up with the others and made it to the top where we saw more crystallized flames around us "Wow!" Vanille said in awe.

We continued walking ahead at our own pace but for some reason, I felt like something watching us. Best to stay cautious for the time being. It was then that Alexis went off with Vanille to explore the ruins, in all honesty, there are times that Alexis can act like a child at the most randomest times. I sighed. While taking a break, I stretched my arms, legs, and back.

My ears then heard screaming in the distance and so did the others. I turned around to see Vanille and Alexis running for their lives with a bioweapon chasing after "What the hell did you guys do!?" I exclaimed and right before my twin sister crashed into me but I managed keep myself standing instead falling backwards.

"I swear, we didn't do anything!" Alexis tightened her grip around my neck. The bioweapon roared and I managed to quickly detach Alexis from my neck, we took out our weapons.

"Alexis, give Lightning and me leverage!" My sister nodded and went charging straight towards the bioweapon with Lightning and me behind her. Alexis skidded to a stop and swiftly turned around on one knee with her hands cupped together. I planted my foot in her hands and she sent me into the air along with Lightning and high enough to land slashes at the bioweapon.

From below, the others casted spells towards the bioweapon while trying not to hit both Lightning and I.

I landed on the ground in a crousching position, "Nick!" Lightning called out. I cupped my hands together and just in time "On my go," I nodded "Now!" On que, I heaved her up into the air and at the bioweapon's level. Lightning caught the bioweapon on the side of its head with a rough roundhouse kick and continued her onslaught of slashes towards the bioweapon. Lightning landed on the ground before the bioweapon roared and crashed through the crystallized flames "It's charging up," Lightning informed us.

"Charging?" Sazh asked "What are you talking about? Charging for what?"

"Its last moments," Lightning dashed towards the bioweapon with the rest of us behind her "Nick, Alexis, same tactics," She ordered and we nodded. Alexis dashed ahead of us and did the same movements as before. She cupped her hands together and heaved Lightning and me into the air. Before we land one slash, the bioweapon set up a barrier around its body which made our attacks and damage less effective than the first time.

The bioweapon shot off several lightning bolt strikes towards the others which were easily avoided. The bioweapon lowered itself to the ground and whipped its tail in a complete circle. At the moment when Lightning and I landed on the ground, the bioweapon shot up back into the sky and started charged an attack.

"Spread out!" Alexis shouted and everyone did so. The bioweapon shot its attack at the ground, everyone covered their faces from the debris flying their way. The bioweapon roared and everyone went back to attacking it.

Eventually the bioweapon crashed onto the ground "About time," I sheathed my gunblade back into its case.

Vanille ran up ahead and pointed at the ship in front of us, "Check it out!" She called out to us before walking ahead.

"Come on. Hop to it, let's go!" said Sazh.

_"Watch the owl,"_ the same voice from before rang in my head- but what's weird is that the voice has an accent. As everyone else walked ahead, I looked around. Owl? What owl? It was then that I saw something silver land on a large rubble and what do you know- it's a silver owl! I tilted my head to one side and the owl did the same. Why does that owl look familiar...? Like I saw it before?

Images suddenly flashed before my eyes but the images came in complete blurs. A hand then touched my shoulder and all the images instantly disappeared, I looked to my left to see that it was Alexis "Are you alright?" She frowned "You've been staring into space more than usual..."

I nodded, "Yeah- I was just thinking."

Alexis smiled "Well, you can have all the time in the world to think things through. But for now, lets get going." My twin sister grabbed my hand and we headed towards the others who were already boarding the ship.

_"You'll know everything in due time, but for now, keep your main objective within your sight."_ Know everything in due time?

* * *

**A/N: **Well! It's about time I finished this chapter *sighs in relief* Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter more than I did while typing it (sort of) Until the next time on _Golden Feathers_! See ya!  
Don't forget to review~!


	7. Two Paths

**A/N: **Chapter 7 is up and get ready for some back-and-forth POV switches between Nick and Alexis! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy XIII belongs to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and other characters belong to me

***Re-edited 4/7/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Seven: Two Paths**

* * *

After filing into the ship, Sazh took his spot in the pilot seat "Everyone ready to go?" He called over his shoulder as he started up the ship. All of us nodded. But with a lack of a fifth seat, I had to remain standing while gripping the seat that Alexis is currently sitting "Alrighty then!" The ship began to lift off and we zoomed into the sky.

Unfortunately, we were then followed by other gunships but it seems like PSICOM really do want us dead when they started firing multiple lasers at us from above.

Lightning shot up from her seat and grabbed the controls from Sazh, bullets were let loose from the ship's gun turrent and one of the skyfleets got taken out and exploded. The ship flew through the smoke.

"Did we get them?" Vanille asked.

"We got _one_ of them," Lightning replied.

It was then that Lightning and Sazh started fighting over the controls while avoiding buildings of an ancient city and incoming bullets from the ships that are still chasing us. And I swear, Hope and Vanille were screaming throughout the whole thing. Sazh slapped Lightning's hand away from the controls and she quickly returned to her seat.

"How are we going to lose them!?" Hope shouted at Sazh.

"You've got me, kid!" Sazh shouted.

"Then let me!" Lightning argued.

"No, thank you!" Sazh argued back.

Flying out of the chasm, we entered the real skies. Few of us let go of our breaths that we were holding in during the ride but we only got small break until countless of bullets nearly hit the ship. And again, Sazh manuvered the ship to dodge incoming bullets. The ship nearly hit the water below until Sazh moved the ship up and flew into another chasm with the other gunships on our tail.

"Truth be told, I can easily take those guys down with the ship's gun turrent!" Alexis spoke up.

"How can you hack into the ship's system when there's no terminal on board!" I countered.

"Shut up! I was just saying that!" Alexis argued back.

"That's enough you two!" Lightning snapped at us. Both Alexis and I shut our mouths.

After a while, Sazh managed to get the ship into clear skies. He then slammed a fist down onto the controls "For the love of all that's good!" Sazh exclaimed wearily.

_"Next, an update on the status of the Purge."_ the female reporter began, I leaned over Alexis's right shoulder to get a better look at the news _"Just moments ago, the Sanctum announced the successful conclusion of the Purge along with the safe arrival of the Cocoon migrants to their new homes on Pulse."_

Sazh shook his head, then the picture switched to an old man dressed in white and violet formal clothing _"Yes, that is correct."_ He began _"There's no denying the enormity of the strain the Purge placed on us all. But, given the tens of million of lives at stake, there truly was no alternative."_ The old guy finished.

The screen then switched to a male reporter _"Primach Dysley stood by the move, stressing the necessity of the relocation. When asked about the possibility of future Purges, the Primach remained noncommittal...stating only that he'd seek counsel with the fal'Cie Eden and weigh all options before making a decision."_

"Yeah, that's right." Sazh began "If it makes the Sanctum look bad, it never even happened."

The screen went to commercial then went back to the Primach's interview, _"In all the centuries since the War of Transgression...Cocoon has been spared Pulse aggression, and prospered for it. It is essential that we maintain this peace. That is the Sanctum's focus. We will continue employing every resource available to combat these threats to the harmony of our society."_

"Meaning, we'll be running for the rest of our lives." Sazh clarified.

"Hey." Vanille spoke up and Sazh looked over his shoulder "Umm, who is this guy?"

Once again, Sazh sighed heavily "I mean, what do they teach kids these days?" He wondered out loud "He's Galenth Dysley. The Sanctum Primach. Murderer-in-chief." He muttered the last part.

"Just another tool of the fal'Cie." Lightning added.

_"According to our insta-poll,"_ the female reporter continued _"...nearly ninety percent of Cocoon citizens agree with the Sanctum's handling of the Purge. Seventy percent of respondents said they would also support additional Purges were the need to arise."_

I scoffed before turning away from the screen then again, blurry images began to flash before my eyes. But the images are still difficult to see. I placed my hand on my forehead- a Focus, a mysterious voice in my head, and flashing images...what else can ruin my life? The ship's system alarm started blaring around us and it snapped me out of my thoughts.

Again, the gunships finally found us and started firing bullets. A bright light shined through the clouds in front of us, we covered our eyes to prevent ourselves from being blinded. As we moved through the clouds, the light began to dim and we saw that it's a Sanctum fal'Cie.

"A Sanctum fal'Cie up close and personal. Cocoon's own light in the sky." said Sazh. The ship then took several hits.

"Fly in," Lightning instructed "We'll lose them in there."

Sazh did as told and manuvered around the electric tendrils of the fal'Cie while dodging flying bullets. One got unlucky and crashed into one of the tendrils and speaking of unlucky, the ship got hit in the engine and we started plummeting down before blacking out.

* * *

**Alexis's POV**

"Stupid Pantherons," I grumbled childishly as Hope casted a Cure spell on the back of my right thigh. We just finished a fight with four Pantherons that ambushed while we were unconcious from the crash but some of us managed to wake up before the bioweapons got a chance to kill us. Hope stood up after he was done healing my leg "Thanks,"

"No problem," He said.

I walked over to Nick and just when Sazh said "What, no break?" He asked as Lightning walked by.

"They're tracking us," Lightning replied, stopping in her tracks.

"I know that. I know that, but we aren't soldiers!" Sazh indicated the rest of us "Except for the twins. We don't have your kind of stamina."

"You got enough to complain." Lightning shot back and went on ahead. Sazh shook his head.

Hope stepped forward nervously, "I think, um..." His voice trailed off while deciding what to do next.

"I'd stick with her if I were you," Sazh suggested. Hope nodded before running after Lightning "What about you two?" The old timer looked at both Nick and me.

I was about to say something until Nick spoke up first, "Alexis, you should go with Lightning and Hope." He suggested and I just stared at him "It's best if we split into equal groups so that nothing bad happens." I opened my mouth but Nick interrupted me "We'll meet up with each other again, now go before you get left behind."

Sighing, I nodded my head "Fine," Nick gave me a playful punch on the arm with a smile. I then headed off after Hope and Lightning.

* * *

**Nick's POV**

I watched Alexis run off, Vanille stood up and turned to both Sazh and I "Come on, lets get going." She said.

"Get going to where, exactly?" Sazh asked, watching Alexis and Hope climb over a rusty machine. Alexis didn't have trouble getting but of course, Hope did "The whole of Cocoon's against us. No matter how far we run, there's no escape. That Cie'th clock, it's still a-tickin'."

"There's still time," Vanille reasoned "You give up too easy, old man!" I couldn't help but to chuckle.

"I'm not giving up." Sazh replied "But there are some things that you just can't change."

"You don't know that for sure unless you try," I piped into the conversation.

"You got a point there," He said "But a kid like you would not understand."

I couldn't help but to scoff "Yeah, I'm a kid!" Vanille huffed "I don't understand!" She turned around with her arms folded in front of her.

Sazh sighed before standing up, "Well, I guess we can be fugitives together. Ready?"

Vanille and I nodded "Ready!"

We walked across a bridge that's made out of spare parts and towards the bridge that Lightning and the others crossed. Once I took several steps onto the bridge, the cylinder shaped machine began rolling down the bridge. I back-flipped off of the bridge and we watched it collapse into the murky waters below.

"So much for that path," I muttered.

"End of the road," said Sazh.

"But at least it's not the end of the line!" Vanille spoke up.

* * *

**Alexis's POV**

Hope and I jogged up the jagged path until we caught Lightning in our sights, "Just you two?" She asked over her shoulder.

"For now, I guess." said Hope "Should we wait?"

"They'll catch up. Eventually." Lightning replied and started walking again. She took point and an uncomfortable silence already settled into the group. As we walked through the jagged and junk covered paths, we would usually come across Thexterons. As our tactic: Lightning took the front lines while Hope and I remained in the back, casting magic spells.

Continuing forward, we started to encounter several Watchdrones.

A Watchdrone zoomed past Lightning and I quickly casted a Thunder spell thus electricuting it. The other two were easily taken care of by Lightning who practically slashed them into scraps.

Lightning took long and determined strides while Hope and I tried to keep up with her. But there were some times that Hope started lagging behind, I can tell that he's getting exhausted.I held my hands behind my back and started looking at our passing surroundings, my helmet formed around my head and it began to scan the area. So far, no enemies are seen. My helmet then turned back into a ring.

We eventually entered an isolated clearing, Hope sat on a rock to catch his breathing. We looked up to see a wall with ledges leading to the top "Can we get through this way, you think?" Hope asked "You...know where you're going, right?"

"I've been here on missions before." Lightning replied.

"Missions? Nothing to do with the Purge, right?" Hope asked another question.

"The Purge is PSICOM's baby," Lightning clarified "Our military is split into two arms. The Public Security and Intelligence Command, known as PSICOM...and the Guardian Corps." Lightning hopped onto a ledge and looked for another one, she turned to face us "I was Guardian Corps, Bodhum Security Regiment."

"Wait, I don't get it," said Hope "If you're not PSICOM, then why did you board the train?"

"For Serah." Lightning then told us that it was her only chance to save Serah before PSICOM can transfer the Vestige back to Pulse before it was out of her reach. Joining the Purge, was her only option.

"You're telling us, you got on that train so you could save your sister?" Hope asked, he let out small scoff "That's crazy. I could never do something like that." Hope looked at me for an opinion on the topic.

I looked away for a second before saying, "I would do the samething, Nick is the only family I have left besides our older brother."

"It's not a question of can or can't. There are some things in life you just do." said Lightning.

"Easy for someone like you to say," Hope muttered and Lightning let out a frustrated sigh "Lightning!" I looked up to see Lightning scaling the wall then disappearing once she reached the top. Hope sat back down the rock "She left us,"

* * *

**Nick's POV**

Jumping down from a pile of old machines, Vanille and I waited for Sazh at the bottom of the heap for Sazh to catch. The old timer emerged from the top, struggling to climb over and being encouraged by the small chocobo chick. Once he got to the bottom, the small chocobo chirped before flying back into Sazh's afro. What a cute little thing.

"Come on, you two." Sazh took pointed in the group with Vanille and I following him close behind. We walked through a machine-like tunnel to see three Watchdrones fighting another machine.

"Now the robots are fighting each other?" Vanille questioned. I unsheathed my gunblade "Nick?"

"We might as well get rid of them instead of standing here all day until they're dead on the floor." I said, walking over to the fight. I aimed the barrel of my gunblade at one of three Watchdrones and shot a bullet into its head. The other two Watchdrones turned to me but was instantly swiped by the huge arm of the other robot. One of the Watchdrones avoided the attack, bullets came flying by and hit the Watchdrone. No doubt that's Sazh.

The Watchdrone turned around then was suddenly swiped by the one armed robot and crashed into the jagged wall.

Vanille casted a Thunder spell towards the last robot and the spell did some damage but not that much- even slashing at the robot wasn't doing any good. I ducked close to the ground as the robot swung its arm in a complete circle, Sazh and Vanille began casting various spells at it. Quickly standing up, I managed to make a deep cut on the robot's armor before jumping back to avoid getting hit. The robot was then electricuted and it collapsed onto the ground.

I put my gunblade back in its case as Sazh walked by and examined the machine in front of us "Never seen a rig like this before," He commented. Sazh activate the machine and it shot out a claw towards the machine blocking our path, the claw began to retract back to the machine with the machine in tow "Oh. Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" The machine stopped "...I knew that would happen."

We ventured forward only to run into groups of either Thexterons fighting with robots or just robots fighting against other robots.

Our path was once blocked by huge pieces of metal, Sazh went over to the control panel and activate the machine that the metal scraps were leaning against. The machine moved a bit before spinning in full force and sending those scrapes of metal flying all over the place.

We got into more fights before finding Alexis and Hope alone with Lightning nowhere in sight.

* * *

**Alexis's POV**

"We made it!" I turned around to see Vanille, Sazh, and Nick jogging towards us before slowing to a stop and catching their breaths. I zoomed past Vanille and hugged my twin brother, Nick let out a heavy sigh and hugged me back.

"Where's Grumpy?" Sazh asked the silent Hope. He just gestured the wall that Lightning scaled earlier "Got left behind, huh?" Sazh placed a hand on Hope's shoulder.

"Leave me alone!" Hope jumped back onto his feet and Sazh retracted his hand "This is pointless." He began "Can't keep up. Can't get home. It's over for me." Hope muttered.

Vanille walked over to him and tried to cheer him up "It's _not_ over." She said "We'll get you home,"

"I don't have one. Now that mom is-" Hope stopped mid-sentence. Nick and I seperated each other from the hug.

"What about your dad?" Vanille asked.

Hope took a step away from the group and told us that his mom and him were at Bodhum- watching the fireworks like others until something with PSICOM came up, "That night, they found the fal'Cie in the Bodhum Vestige. The next day, soldiers sealed off the town and we couldn't get back to Palumpolum. They forced us onto the train with everyone else. My mom, she was frantic. She wanted to get us home, so she tried to fight." Vanille walked up to him "She got tricked, by Snow. He used her!"

Nick opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it, I looked at him for a second before looking towards the others.

"Let's get you home, okay?" said Vanille "Your dad's got to be worried!"

"Let him worry," Hope turned away "Why should I care? He doesn't." Wow, harsh words.

I might've been me but I could sword that I heard Sazh mutter 'Any father cares.' or something like that, Vanille also heard him too "It's nothing, forget it." Sazh walked over to the machine near us and pulled the lever. A claw shot out, it grabbed a piece of an old machine and towed it out of the wall. Wow. "We've got time," said Sazh "We'll get you back home. Your dad will happy to see you."

We traveled up the old machine and the cliff ledges to the top. A lone Pulsework Soldier marched back and forth in forth, the robot obviously didn't stand a chance against a group of five. Nick took point in the group while Sazh hung in the back of the group.

Along the way, we encountered Pulsework Soldiers and these birds that attack you while hopping on one leg- I think it was called an Incubus...anyways, we came upon some old battleships.

"Isn't that a-?"

"A warship from Pulse." Sazh finished Vanille's sentence.

"You mean, they made it this far?" Vanille asked, looking at the warships in the distance.

"Of course not," Sazh waved his hand "Not during the war, not since. They might have tried, but none of their forces made it into Cocoon."

Then I piped into the conversation, "Since they failed to make into Cocoon, they were only able to damage to outer rim. Then the Sanctum's fal'Cie pushed them back." Nick stared at me "What? I tend to read about history when I'm at home." I retorted.

"What, did you sleep through History?" Sazh asked.

"More or less," Vanille giggled sheepishly "So, what's a ship from Pulse doing here?"

"Once the war was over, people couldn't live near the rim anymore. In places like the Hanging Edge." Hope answered "So the fal'Cie, they gathered up scrap from Pulse, and used it for rebuilding here. This is what was left: a bunch of garbage."

"Who'da thunk? A Pulse fal'Cie and who-knows-what, mixed in with all the trash?" Sazh commented.

"Who'da thunk..." Vanille muttered in a somewhat sad tone.

We continued forward and Vanille decided to look ahead of us, "Do me a favor: stop wandering off and stay where I can keep my eye on you." said Sazh before looking at my twin brother, Nick raised an eyebrow "Nick, go with her."

"Wait- what now?" Nick suddenly asked.

I smiled and shoved him towards Vanille, Nick almost bumped into her. Before he can say anything, Vanille grabbed his wrist and dragged him behind her while skipping. I'm just taking a guess but...I think Nick is starting to like Vanille. Sazh shook his head with a weary smile before resuming to lead the group. Climbing up several ledges, we met up with Vanille and Nick who were happily chatting. From what I saw, Vanille was giggling and Nick was being stubborn before realizing us behind them. The two rejoined the group.

During our walk through Vile Peaks, I swear, Incubus' and Pulsework Soldiers are all we ever fought throughout the entire time.

It was then that Lightning joined the party again, "Hey, welcome to the party!" Sazh greeted.

"You miss us?" Vanille asked.

Light just scoffed before walking ahead of us, "Would it kill her to smile?" Sazh asked us. We just shrugged our shoulders before heading after Lightning. Yet again, we fought more Incubus and Pulsework Soldiers along the way with an Succubus mixed into the fights.

After a while of walking- or should I say, jogging. We came upon a clearing with a rusted machine laying in the middle of the center of the clearing "What do you supposed that is?" Lightning questioned us.

I walked up to it, "Alexis," I turned around to see Nick with his hand hovering above his gunblade, I waved my hand "Just be careful."

"Aren't I always?" Nick sighed and I walked up to the machine. I examined it before stomping on it "Hmph, the machine is long from not being operational- from what I can tell." The next thing I knew the machine suddenly coming alive and shoving all the pieces of metal off of it "What the-!?"

"Alexis!" I heard someone call out, a hand grabbed me by the shirt and instantly pulled me away before the machine can kill me with one of its claws. I landed on the ground and looked up to see that it was Nick who pulled me out of the machine's way "What did I say about being careful?" He snapped.

I scowled, "I tell you the samething!" I jumped back onto my feet and unsheathed my gunblade.

The machine slammed down one of its claws, Nick and I jumped away in opposite directions "We'll get back to this topic, is that alright with you?" Nick shouted at me.

I readied my gunblade, "That's fine by me!" Shouting back, Nick and I headed straight towards the machine while dodging its swinging claws. The machine sort of staggered backwards from the spells that Sazh, Vanille, and Hope are casting but the machine pressed forward and flames shot out of its claws. That was when Nick and I retreated out of the machine's range before being burnt to pure crisp, Lightning did the same.

Again, the machine began to stagger backwards and everyone began to cast spells non-stop. Heavy smoke began to appear from the machine and we stopped casting spells. All of us let out a breath but our little celebration was cut short when a bright blue light shined through the smoke and shot at the ground and making us fall down into the tunnel-like area.

"Thought we were goners, you all right?" said Sazh. In response was several painful groans. Nick helped me back onto my fight.

"Incoming!" Lightning warned us and the machine dropped down in front of us. Round two just started.

The machine started round two with searing flames out of its claws and swinging its arms in a full arc, everyone moved out of range. We resumed our non-stop attacks with healing on the side. The machine swung one of its arms in an arc motion, Nick stood his ground and twirled his gunblade in his right hand. The arm came towards Nick until he blocked the arm with the flat side of his gunblade, a green shield shined between him and the machine's arm.

With the machine's attention on Nick, the rest of us took the opportunity to take down the machine. Lightning and I slashed non-stop at the machine while Sazh, Vanille, and Hope continued to cast spells.

In minutes, the machine went down on the ground.

Everyone put their weapons away and Nick rejoined the group, "Pulse is crawling with things like that, isn't it?" Sazh asked.

"Got me. Not even the Corps has access to intel on Pulse." said Lightning "Soldiers in the field fight blind."

"Yeah, I noticed that. But don't you need to know exactly what you're up against?"

"Target's a target." Lightning said simply.

"You like to keep it simple, don't you?" Sazh questioned again.

"I stick to my goal." She replied.

Hope then came into the conversation "As long as you have a goal, you can fight?"

"You can stay alive." Lightning began walk ahead of us.

Walking forward, we took a break at an old and destroyed warship. Nick and I stuck with Vanille and Hope who remained at the bottom while Sazh and Lightning went up onto the warship "Hey, Alexis," I looked up from my reflection in the water and towards Vanille "Can I ask you something?"

"Good ahead." I nodded and she smiled.

"Well, before we met in the Vestiage- I asked Nick what made him betray PSICOM." Vanille began "He told me that it mainly involves your family. Do you know?"

I sighed heavily, "Lets see, where do I start?" I muttered to myself before looking back at Vanille "You see, it all started with our..." My voice trailed off, I looked around but Nick was nowhere to be seen "...It started off with our father. He's one of the lieutenants of PSICOM-"

"_Used_ to be one of the lieutenants of PSICOM." I jumped at Nick's sudden voice, I smiled and he just sighed "But that's a story for another time." He added "Before I started hating PSICOM was when Alexis and I were eight years-old. It was before our ninth birthday." Nick took a breath before continuing with the story "PSICOM found an unknown area that seems to be of Pulse origin. We didn't know what it was nor did they. So, PSICOM sent a team to the area with our father as the team leader. Not long after our father's departure- we got word that very few soldiers returned with no memories of what happened but our father was not amongst those who returned."

"And that's when Nick started hating PSICOM- they took away our father and he blames them for our father's death." I said quietly "And the betrayal at the Hanging Edge? Simple; for the hated towards them and not wanting to obey their demands." We then noticed my twin brother walk away and towards Sazh and Lightning. Vanille tried to stop him but I blocked her path "Don't." She looked at me with a confusion expression "Nick gets like this whenever he talks about our father. Give him some time and he'll be back to talking."

Vanille slowly nodded her head. Even though we met at the Vestige, it seems like Vanille is starting to care about my twin brother. The thought is alien but yet...it's like I felt it before.

"Alexis?" I snapped out of my trance and thoughts to Vanille's snapping fingers in front of my face. I blinked several times "You were spacing there, you alright?"

I nodded, "I'm fine- just thinking about some...stuff." Vanille nodded "Come on, we better head up towards the others and see what the plan is from here." We headed up the trail towards the warship where Nick, Lightning, and Sazh were. The three of us came caught the middle of their conversation when Sazh shouted 'This isn't a game!'

"No. That's for damn sure." said Lightning "It started with Serah. The fal'Cie took her. Now I'm a l'Cie, too. And the Sanctum's hunting me, an enemy of the state. But who's pulling their strings?" Lightning looked up towards Eden "A fal'Cie. Eden. Cocoon's Sustainer and Guiding Light." She placed her hand over her brand "It probably ordered the Purge, too. Pulse and Sanctum fal'Cie? They're all the same. And we're all the same to them: expendable. I'm not dying a fal'Cie slave."

"So? What are you gonna do?" Sazh questioned.

"Destroy it." Lightning muttered.

"By yourself? What, are you crazy?" Sazh stepped forward, appearantly, he thinks Lightning has gone insane "Say you pull it off...what's that get you? Satisfaction?" He put a hand to his forehead "Something happens to Eden, it's lights out Cocoon!" Sazh then turned back to Lightning "You _want_ that. You're a Pulse l'Cie now, so you just want to snuff out Cocoon!"

"No!" Vanille intervened and she stepped forward "What about Serah? She said to save Cocoon! It might even be our Focus to make sure Cocoon stays-"

"Our Focus doesn't matter." Lightning cut her off "I don't take orders from fal'Cie. How I live is up to me."

"Don't you mean how you die?" Sazh asked.

"Think like that, and it's already over." Lightning said "Better to pick your path and keep moving. Don't worry. I'm after the Sanctum. I'm not out to destroy the world. If it did come to that, wonder if our 'hero' would try to stop me?"

"You want to fight Snow now? Just like that, and you're enemies?"

"Next time we meet, we might be too." Lightning headed off towards her desired direction and path.

I noticed Hope with a thoughtful look on his face before he said, "Snow deserves it!" Then ran off after Lightning.

* * *

**Nick's POV**

Vanille, Sazh, Alexis, and I remained silent as we watched Hope follow Lightning's path.

"I don't know what I should do," said Vanille, shaking her head.

"That makes four of us." said Sazh. Vanille then slapped him on the back and almost making him fall down.

"Hey! You're taking care of _us_!" Vanile laughed.

"Well, I won't be if you keep pushing me like that."

Alexis stiffled a laugh and shook her head "You mean you _three_," We looked at her as she started walking away but stopped for a quick second "Vanille, make sure Nick stays out of trouble alright?" She instructed "I would hate to lose him before we see each other again."

"Don't worry, Alexis!" Vanille assured her and placed a playful punch on my arm "I'll keep an eye on him."

Alexis nodded "Alright, I'll hold onto that promise. See ya, guys later!" We watched my twin sister run after Lightning and Hope while waving her good-bye and shouting 'Bye Nick! Be nice!'

I could only roll my eyes then Vanille elbowed me in the ribs, "Hey!" Vanille giggled and I poked on her on the forehead.

* * *

**A/N: **Ah-hah! Chapter seven is finally complete *thumbs up* So yeah...I'm looking forward to doing the chapters of Vanille, Nick, and Sazh- and hopefully adding a bit more VanillexNick moments somewhere between the lines ^^ On an unrelated fanfic note: "Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII" is coming out next and I'm already saving up money to pre-order it...if I can stop spending money. Until the next time on _Golden Feathers_! See ya~!  
Positive feedback would be awesome~!


	8. Eden or Bust

**A/N: **Hello~! And welcome to the 8th chapter of _Golden Feathers_! For this chapter, half is going to be Alexis's POV then switches over to Lightning's POV ^^ Enjoy and pray to Goddess Etro that my hands don't break while writing XD

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy XIII belong to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and other characters belong to me

***Re-edited 4/7/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Eight: Eden or Bust**

* * *

The Corps Regular soldier grunted as I thrusted the blade of Griffin's Strength through his chest and out of his back. I punched him fully in the face and his neck snapped, I looked to my right to see Lightning slicing down the second Corps Regular. Lowering my gunblade, I placed my boot on the corpse and pushed him off of my weapon. I sheathed Griffin's Strength before walking after Lightning and Hope.

Lightning took point of the group while I took the rear.

I lazily moved my eyes from left to right as we walked through the jagged paths of the Vile Peaks. Truth be told, the air around our group is a bit- I don't know...heavy and down. Don't know why.

I could've had Nick take my place in this group but I thought it would be the best for him to stay with Vanille and Sazh. Besides, I trust Vanille enough to know that my twin brother will be watched and kept on a short leash.

While traveling through the jagged paths, we ran into multiple groups of Corps Regular and other military machines. Since it was just the three of us, Hope took the role of switching back and forth between firing spells and healing. Myself between fighting upfront with Lightning and firing spells with Hope. Lastly, Lightning remained on the frontline.

There were times where Hope went to scout ahead and leave me alone with the stoic pink-haired soldier. And yes, it is awkward with the silence between us. I wanted to talk about something but I had no idea what to talk about.

It was then we spotted Hope waiting for us in the distance and he rejoined the group. We jumped down some ledges before Lightning stopped the group and peered around the rocks to see an officer and a soldier examining another one of those machines that we fought before with Nick, Vanille, and Sazh.

"Any trace of the l'Cie?" asked the officer.

"Nothing. No sign it's been activated." the soldier informed. Wow, they must've thought we rode one of those things to get the heck out of this garbage dump of a place.

The officer did a double take between us and the machine, "Who's there?" Instantly the two came running towards us, Lightning drew out her gunblade. Hope and I did the same and got ready for the fight.

Lightning dashed forward at the PSICOM Tracker on the left and I took out the Tracker on the right. The PSICOM Tracker swung his weapon at me but I fended it off before punching his gut and plunging the blade of my weapon through his chest and out of his back.

Taking out my gunblade from the Tracker's dead body and sheathing, Hope headed over to the machine "What was PSICOM doing here?" He asked out loud.

"Probably thought we'd try and use a Pulse machine to escape." Lightning replied.

"Exactly my thoughts," I pointed out.

"Maybe we should try it." Hope suggested "What does this do?"

"Hey, you're gonna hurt yourself! Don't touch that!" Lightning warned him

"Wait. What it works?" Hope asked.

"Leave it!"

I looked at Lightning, "He does have a point, if you think about it." She just shook her head at my opinion and I huffed.

Hope began panicking when the machine came alive and forward "Stop! Stop already!" He commanded the machine and the Pulse machine did so "I think I got it." The machine raised its arms and let out some steam "Light! Alexis! I think I can work this!" Hope shouted to us and I gave him a thumbs-up before walking over to the rusted wall that blocked our way with Lightning.

We looked behind us to see the machine raise one of its arms. Both Lightning and I moved out of the way before the machine smacked the wall, making it turn into a bridge. I smiled and hopped onto the machine and stood behind Hope, I looked down at Lightning "Hey, Light! Come on up!"

Lightning sighed before jumping onto the machine.

"Alright! Punch it, Hope!" I pointed forwards and he nodded.

On que, the machine began stomping forward and across the metal bridge. I have to admit, watching a whole bunch of Pulsework Soldiers go flying into the air everytime the machine ran into them? It's entertaining and it's better than fighting them by hand.

But our ride came to a short when I noticed a cliff ahead of us. Like before, Lightning grabbed the back of my shirt and dragged me down with her as she jumped down from the back of the machine. My bottom hit the ground with a 'thud' and I swear, my ass started throbbing with pain. Very uncomfortable.

A loud crash caught our attention, I got back onto my feet and followed Lightning. We looked down to see that Hope had went tumbling down with the machine, "Nice landing." Lightning called out to him. She jumped from ledge to ledge and I followed from behind "Lets get moving."

"Just need a minute." Hope said before stumbling back onto his feet "Still a bit winded."

"You're too soft." said Lightning as she walked ahead of us. Hope and I looked at each other before racing after her.

Like always, we encountered more Corp Regulars and PSICOM Trackers as we moved deeper into the Vile Peaks. At this point, I stuck with Lightning on the frontline with Hope in the back supporting us with various magic spells.

There were also times that the path would split up into two. Lightning would instruct me to one path while she and Hope take the other and clear out any enemies that might be on patrol for us, l'Cies.

As we continued forward, Hope would seriously lag behind us but Lightning kept on walking in determination. I would stop until Hope caught up and helped him keep up with Lightning.

It was then that we crossed a metal bridge, Hope and I were behind Lightning as always until he tripped on the edge of the bridge. Lightning suddenly became irritated and frustrated with the situation "This isn't working." She said as I went back to help Hope back onto his feet. Both of us looked at her "I mean you're liability." Lightning clarified "You'll just slow me down."

"What!?" Hope instantly moved forwards.

"Light?" I questioned.

"I'm sorry, but I can't protect you when-" Lightning suddenly grunted in pain and grasped her chest as a bright pink light began to shine.

"You can't leave me here!" Hope argued "You've got to take me with you!"

"Enough!" Lightning snapped "The whole world is against us," She fell to one knee "I can barely keep myself alive. Let alone some helpless kid!" Lightning grunted in pain "I don't have time to baby you. You want to get tough? Do it on your own!" She shouted.

At that moment, a bright pink symbol appeared underneath her. Hope and I shielded our eyes from the bright light that erupted from the symbol. We looked forward to see a white knight-like creature standing in the place of the symbol that appeared under Lightning. Immediately, I unsheathed Griffin's Strength from its case and moved in front of Hope. The creature advanced forward, Hope stumbled backwards and onto the ground while I backed away.

The creature raised its 'S' shaped sword and brought it down but in a flash, Lightning appeared in front of me with her gunblade blocking the attack. She fended off the sword and the fight began.

I know we just started fighting this thing that Lightning summoned or whatever- but it's already a pain in the ass! The creature pinned its attention on Hope and I while ignoring Lightning who was swinging her gunblade at the creature.

* * *

**Lightning's POV**

I gritted my teeth after each hit of my gunblade that landed on said creature. The creature repeated swung its 'S' shaped sword at Alexis but she managed to block and dodge every swing while protecting Hope. After each hit, I felt of tinge of approval go through my body- I knew it wasn't me but the white armored creature's approval.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Alexis yelped in pain as her gunblade flew out of her hand and planted itself in the ground a few feet away. She fell onto her knees and I knew she was exhausted, "Alexis! Come on!" Hope encouraged her as he healed her. The white armored knight swung its blade close to the ground, Alexis avoided it just in time by jumping backwards with Hope behind her.

I tightened my grip and towards them as the creature took a defensive stance behind its shield and cautiously moved towards Alexis and Hope. My gunblade collided with the knight's metal sword and on instinct, I shouted "Odin!" The creature that is now known as Odin, easied is stance before stepping away from us. The white armored knight jumped into the sky and before our eyes, Odin transformed into a horse.

Odin disappeared and the battle was then over. I collapsed onto one knee and panted heavily, "Lightning!" Alexis and Hope moved in front of me, Hope looked at my glowing brand then back at his "Your brand looks different. Was that an Eidolon? Like l'Cie can summon?" He questioned, looking between Alexis and I.

I clicked my tongue, "Magic and mumbo-jumbo." I said humorlessly "I must've hit my head on that Purge train." Alexis offered a hand but I passed and stood up on my own, Nick's twin then went to the spot that her gunblade has been planted during the fight with Odin.

"Um..." Hope muttered, "Am I really in your way?" He brought the topic up, I averted my gaze and sheathed my gunblade before walking past him. He turned towards "I'll do better! I'll try harder, I'll-"

"Hope." I cut him off from the middle of his sentence, he went silent, I exhaled "We'll toughen you up." I took a step forward then stopped "I'm sorry about before." Continuing forward, Hope jogged after and Alexis was able to catch up with us.

As we walked, Alexis subconciously whistled a tune. I casted a glance towards her, she noticed and stopped. Heading downhill, we were ambushed by PSICOM Rnagers and Ulhans "l'Cie!" One of the rangers shouted, the three of us unsheathed our weapons.

"Got my back?" I asked, both Alexis and Hope.

"Yeah!" Hope replied.

"You know it!" Alexis twirled her gunblade and held it back-handed.

The PSICOM Rangers and Ulhans let loose a barrage of bullets. Alexis went after the Ulhans while Hope and I took care of the Rangers. A Ranger kept his finger on the trigger, once at a close distance, I circled around him and impaled the blade of my gunblade through his back and out of his chest. The nearest Ranger to my right was about to shoot until a ball of flame engulfed him entirely. I then turned my attention to the Ulhans, Alexis stabbed her gunblade staright through and casted a thunder spell that coursed through the weapon and electricuted the Ulhan that she was on.

The Ulhan short-circuited, it was about to crash into the other one but the Ulhan moved out of the way and Alexis jumped onto the ground. The Ulhan trained its guns at Alexis as she landed and fired, Hope managed to summon a shield around her before the bullets impaled her. The three of us turned our sights to the last Ulhan and exploded as we casted thunder spells simutaneously.

Hope placed his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath, Alexis sheathed her gunblade and wiped her forehead from any sweat "Sorry," said Hope.

"Don't sweat it," I said, Hope went to sit down on the ground "I'll look around. You two rest up."

* * *

**Alexis's POV**

Lightning took off to scout around the area for any enemies, Hope was already asleep against the boulder behind him and for me? I was leaning against the same boulder with my back against it and my arms folded over my chest, I sighed. I traced back what happened that made us end up here and split into two groups of three. The Purge. The Fal'Cie. Becoming l'Cies. This...focus...that we have to complete. I ran a hand through my ponytail.

"Alexis." I snapped out of my thoughts and turned around to see Lightning.

"Oh, hey, Lightning," I greeted wearily "Any sign of enemies?'

She shook her head "We're fine for now," Lightning looked down at Hope to see him sleeping, she sat against the other boulder across from him "You should be resting as well," She advised "You'll need enough strength and stamina for when we move out." I blinked several times before smiling, she raised an eyebrow.

"That's what father kept on saying to Nick and I when we were kids." I claimed, shaking my head "Nick and I always looked up towards our father- he was our idol and he knew that, 'Remember, soldiers need strength and stamina to survive and protect others. Do this and both of you will make outstanding soldiers'. Our father made Nick and I felt like we had a purpose to live with his kind of words..."

At that moment, I felt like crying for what happened but I didn't- I needed to keep myself mentally and physically prepared for whatever came our way. A yawn then escaped my mouth. I sat down and leaned against the boulder, my eyelids were getting heavy and I was about to fall asleep.

"Mom?" Hope muttered in his sleep.

"Not by a long shot," Lightning replied, she looked over to me and nodded. I smiled before drifting off into my needed slumber.

* * *

**A/N: **Chapter 8 is finished and I'm proud of it~! Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter as much more will come your way. Also, since Spring Break is just around the corner for me, that means more updates for this story and others that are just sitting there. Until the next time on _Golden Feathers_~! See ya!  
Don't forget to review~!


	9. Running Away

**A/N: **Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 9 of _Golden Feathers_~! I would like to say thank you to those who reviewed/favorited/alerted :D Seeing those in my inbox makes me get off my ass and keep on writing~! Enjoy the newest chapter~!

**Disclaimer: **The Final Fantasy Series belong to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and its OCs belong to me (Wolf of Chains)

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Nine: Running Away**

* * *

Large gears shifted and steam whistled loudly, the bottom of our shoes clacked against the metal platforms. Its good to see our surroundings finally change after how long of traveling through giant boulders, broken down machines, and fighting mosh pits between enemies.

I whistled in amazement at the gaint machinery. If Alex was here instead of me, she'll be all over the machinery and wanting to see how they work- unfortunately, machinery tend to explode whether they're being tinkered by my twin sister.

"No sign of soldiers," said Vanille with Sazh and I following from behind, descending down the metal stairs.

"Guess Lightning got their attention," The old timer concluded, looking back from where we came.

"I wonder how Hope and Alexis are doing." Vanille wondered.

"I bet their doing fine." I assured Vanille and she nodded.

"They were heading towards Palumpolum." Sazh pointed a finger towards the distance "Kid's on his way home. You can bet on it."

It's also towards our family's vacation home if I ask me. But it's also where Derek is positioned more than frequently. I frowned- makes me worry about Alexis's safety more than usual.

"Good for him!" said Vanille with her usual cheerful tone. I pushed current topic out of my head and returned to reality, Vanille noticed Sazh lower his gaze to the ground and stepped in front of him "What's wrong?"

Sazh folded his arms over his chest before replying "It's good- if they manage to slip in quietly. All of Cocoon is in the grip of Pulse-phobia. If a l'Cie pops up on the radar, all hell will break loose."

"They don't even why they're scared." Vanille muttered.

"Afraid of what they don't know." Sazh said in other words "Afriad to find out more. Gets worse the older you get."

"They're not scared," I piped into the conversation, both Vanille and Sazh looked at me "Its PSICOM that's making them scared. Whatever PSICOM believes, each individual will believe in the samething. Cocoon depends on the military as a resource to the movements of Pulse l'Cie."

Sazh nodded in agreement "I'm terrified of what will happen. The world probably would be better off without Pulse l'Cie- I mean, most of them."

"It's alright Pops," I smiled, patting his shoulder "We get what you mean."

Vanille nodded "Now lets go!" She began to push Sazh towards the only path with me following behind. As we headed down the metal steps, we headed into a fight with a bomb. Seems easy enough to fight, and it was- depsite it setting itself aflame while attacking. Under a short time, we figured out our battle formation: me on the front with Vanille and Sazh behind me, letting loose spells.

As we headed down the stairs, we encountered another machine from the Vile Peaks. The machine shot out a claw and pulled back an old machine that created a bridge for us. Crossing over, we got into a fight with a Pulsework Soldier and a Bomb. Vanille and Sazh took on the Pulsework Soldier while I dealt with the Bomb.

The Bomb floated over to me before setting itself on fire and attacking, I kept my distance and fired bullets. The Bomb's features became more visible after each attack, the Bomb attempted for an attack but I jumped away. It then engulfed itself in flames, I shifted my gunblade into its sword form and dashed towards the Bomb for a quick attack. As I sliced the Bomb, it made a rough explosion that nearly knocked me off balance.

I turned my attention to Vanille and Sazh who were taking care of the Pulsework Soldier with distance between them. Vanille casted a thunder spell that made the Pulsework Soldier short-circuit, it then seperated from its lowerhalf to reveal its glowing core. Together, Sazh and Vanille finished the enemy off with ease thus making it drop dead on the ground.

We continued forward, Vanille went off to look ahead _"Looks like she hasn't changed a bit.."_ I stopped, its the voice again _"Let her wander but not too far..."_ I followed Vanille as she stopped in front of machine. What? Is the voice talking about...Vanille? _"...You will know in due time...don't ponder..."_ Pfft, that's what it said the last time it talked. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey," Sazh's voice brought me out of my 'trance' with that mysterious voice in my head "You alright?" He looked at me, I nodded my head before continuing forward. Should I tell the others the others? Just to get it off my chest? Maybe not, I should wait till we're in a safe area or something. We met up with Vanille at the nonpowered machine and walked on but encountered a group of two Bombs and a Pulsework Soldier...great.

The three of us split up and distanced ourselves from the enemies. The two Bombs came after Vanille and I while the Pulsework Soldier came after Sazh who was drawing its attention away from us as we fought. WIth my gunblade in its sword form, it became engulfed with water and I dashed towards one of the Bombs while Vanille dealt with the other one. I landed a swift strike to the Bomb and rolled to the side before it can tackle me, I swung a right arc and the Bomb exploded. Another explosion sounded- the Bomb that Vanille was dealing with. I went to stand up but something solid hit my spine which sent me flying several feet away.

"Nick!" Vanille shouted, I struggled to get up but couldn't. A loud thud was heard of metal hitting the ground, with effort, I managed to roll onto my back and to see Vanille and Sazh heading over to me with the Pulsework Soldier on the ground. Slowly, I began to sit up.

"Take it easy there," said Sazh "That Pulsework Soldier got you good on the back,"

Vanille walked behind me and placed a hand on my spine, she added pressure on certain areas of my spine "Your spinal cord seems to be fractured out of place but it's not that bad." I sighed "You might feel a tinge," She casted a cure spell and I exhaled deeply. Besides the healing magic, the bones and plates in my spine began to form back into a straight line. In an instant, a loud 'pop' was heard from my spine when it was back in place "All done!"

Standing back up, I stretched my back "Thanks Vanille!" I said with a smile and she nodded.

"Now that you're good to go," Sazh patted my shoulder "Lets get a move on," I nodded.

Moving onward, we had a small break from fighting until we came across two Gremlins. Not that difficult if I might say, Sazh and Vanille casted aero spells while I kept the Gremlins at an respecable distance, however, there were times that we had to spread out.

Again, we encountered a group of four Gremlins, but like I said: no trouble at all.

Vanille ran up ahead then stopped when a large came into our view "Oh, wow!" She admired the large machine "Wow, look at that! I wonder what it's for..." Looking around, this place is littered with Bombs, Gremlins, and Pulsework Soldiers. How nice. There were also two long platforms on both left and right that had two machines each.

Before we moved on, I spoke up "Hey, Sazh," He turned to look at me "I'll see you guys on the otherside."

He blinked several times before smiling and waving me off "Alright but don't get hurt, you hear?" I grinned before unsheathing my gunblade and dashing up the stairs to the platform on the left.

My first enemies were two Bombs (piece of cake). The two Bombs caught me in their sight and began floating towards me, they set themselves on fire before attacking. I moved around them and kept my distance, having my gunblade in its gun form, I began shooting bullets at them. Thier features began to show after each attack, then one of the Bombs became to self-destruct. Keeping a good distance away, the Bomb exploded thus making the other one self-destruct as well.

I sighed once the battle was over, walking over to the machine, I examined it. My helmet formed around my head and began scanning. I turned around to the large machine and my helmet scan it as well. Turning back around, I pushed several buttons and the light of the large machine began to glow "One down, one to go." Looking over to the next machine on the platform, there was a Bomb and a Pulsework Worker.

Switching my gunblade to its sword form, I dashed forward towards the last two enemies. After fighting my way to the console, I pressed several buttons and the light of the machine began to glow. Alright! At that moment, the large generator became active.

"Hey, Nick!" I shifted my attention from the generator to Sazh and Vanille who were standing on the other platform, Vanille was waving and I waved back. We met at the bottom of the platforms, the gate of our way out opened and out came two Pulsework Soldiers and two Bombs. How fun. With my gunblade already in hand. We then got into a three versus four fight.

The Bombs instantly came after and attack with their bodies aflame. The two Bombs self-destructed simutaneously and all was left was the two Pulsework Soldiers. Sazh and Vanille took care of one while I took care of the other one.

As the Pulsework Soldier swung its arm in an arc, I used the flatside of my gunblade to block it and a green shield shined once in contact. The Pulsework Soldier backed away, it went to attack again but I ducked in time. I thrusted the blade of my gunblade into the center of the Pulsework Soldier. I casted a thunder spell and the electricity coursed through the gunblade and into the enemy. The Pulsework Soldier short-circuited and its core became visible. Just like that, the Pulsework Soldier fell to the ground once I struck at its core.

Sazh and Vanille casted their own thunder spells simutaneously and the their opponent began to short-circuit, the Pulsework Soldier stood their with its core visible. They casted spells nonstop and their enemy finally collapsed to the ground.

We regrouped and entered through the cave, as we traveled through, the three of us entered a wide clearing.

"We have to sleep somewhere." said Sazh, glancing behind us "This look okay?"

"It's fine as long as no enemies show up," I commented, stretching my limbs after many fights. I released a heavy sigh.

"Uh-yeah!" Vanille chirped "Fine by me!" Sazh turned to see the redhead looking at a comfortable sleeping spot. I would love to sleep but unfortunately, I have lots of stuff on mind- like that damned voice in my head! Vanille retrieved a blanket and set it down on the ground "All set!" She said "Okay, good night!"

"Not a care in the world." Sazh muttered as Vanille laid down on the blanket, I let an amused huff "What about you kid?" He looked at me "You don't seem to be slightly tired."

"Got that right," I said, turning by head towards the nearby waterfall "I just lots of stuff on my mind."

Sazh shook his head before heading to Vanille, however, Vanille immediately sat up and grabbed a nearby stick to draw a line between them "What?" Sazh said with lack of belief.

"Do not cross this line. Understood?"

Sazh sighed "Grow up," Vanille giggled.

"And good night again!"

"Would you just go to sleep already?" Sazh asked before laying down and away from where Vanille had drew the line.

As for me, I just sat down near the waterfall and let my mind wander. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, I need answers about this whole thing _"...Hello...?"_ I asked pathetically in my mind _"Who are you? And what do you want from me?"_ No response, I tried again _"I...need help understanding this path..."_

_"Don't fret as both of them will tell you and your twin sister the truth..."_ My eyebrows knitted together as I frowned, what the hell is that suppose to mean? First it was about one person and now it's _two_!? What more does this voice have to say? _"...Don't think too much about it..."_ Wait-what? 'Don't think too much about it'? Bastard thinks he has humor, I huffed.

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**A/N:** *sighs* So, there's chapter 9 that lacks VanillexNick moments (which I'm incrediably disappointed about :P) Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter (of which I disliked) *ahem* now then, until the next time on _Golden Feathers_~! See ya~!  
Don't forget to review~! (Don't bother flaming me because I critize myself after each chapter XP)


	10. Strategic Change

**A/N: **Welcome back and here's chapter 10! Enjoy~!

**Disclaimer: **Final Fantasy XIII rightfully belongs to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and its characters belong to me (Wolf of Chains)

***Re-edited 4/19/2013**

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Ten: Strategic Change**

* * *

I sighed in relief as we were finally out of the Vile Peaks, we entered a fairly large door and into a new area. However, this place looks familiar to me: bright blue glowing leaves that hung onto metal tree-like structures throughout the area _'C'mon, think, Alexis! This place is place is familiar to you! Think!'_ I forced myself to remember but nothing came to mind.

The sleeve of my shirt was tugged on, snapping out of my thoughts, I turned to see it was Hope who was tugging my sleeve. He gestured towards Lightning who just signled us to come forward. Hope and I moved to Lightning's side "Can't believe we made it," Hope said, kneeling beside the former soldier. Lightning nodded.

The large door behind us began to rumble and closed itself nice and tight, "That'll slow down pursuit," Lightning advised.

"But aren't there troops on this side?" Hope questioned, looking between Lightning and me "We can't relax just yet,"

"Right," Lightning agreed "We press on. I'll take point, you watch our backs."

Lightning was about move on until Hope suggested something "Actually...why don't you let me take point?"

I looked at Lightning then back at Hope "I don't see why not," I shrugged my shoulders "Besides," I walked to Hope and placed a hand on his shoulder "He's gotten more mature." Hope smiled and nodded his thanks for my support. We looked back at Lightning, waiting for her decision.

"Can you handle it?" She asked.

Hope ran up ahead and turned to Lightning, "It's not a question of can or can't," He recited Lightning's words from before in the Vile Peaks.

"Now you're learning." Lightning gestured forward and Hope began to lead the group "Keep your eyes front. I'll watch rear." Hope nodded and we followed close behind.

It hasn't been that long until we got into a fight with at least four Frag Leeches. I unsheathed my gunblade and changed it into its sword form. As I went to strike one of the Frag Leeches, my target jumped over me. I clicked my tongue and swung my gunblade in a wide right arc with the blade engulfed in fire. The Frag Leech curled up into a small donut. Letting my guard down for a bit, I turned around but only to be hit square in the face by a Frag Leech. Casting a quick thunder spell, I grabbed the leech and electricuted it.

After that, the Frag Leech shriveled up and curled into a small donut after falling to the ground.

Sighing, I trudged after Lightning and Hope after the fight was over. As we came closer to the bright light in the center of the platform, it faded away and reappeared on the path to our right "We can use these lights as a guide to keep us moving in the right direction." said Lightning.

Hope led us towards the light, it then moved down the path on our left. Hope got his boomerang out from its sheath on the back of its pants and threw it thus hitting the three enemies ahead of of us. The green creature that has the resemblance of a Pantheron roared as it turned around but before it attacked, Lightning sent it to the sky with an upward hit from her gunblade "Alexis!" I ran up ahead and skidded to a stop while turning aorund to face Lightning. The former soldier made a dash towards me as I cupped my hands together, she placed her foot in my hands and I instantly gave her leverage after the green creature. Once near it, Lightning let out a barrage of attacks while still airborne.

Meanwhile, Hope and I took care of the Frag Leeches. As the leeches made their high jump over us, Hope threw his boomerang once again and it hit both Frag Leeches at once. Switching my gunblade into its gun form, I shot a bullet into each of ther stomach's thus making them fly off of the platform. The green creature then dropped dead near and Lightning landed on her feet.

Continuing on, we came into contact with two Thexterons. Lightning and I dashed head-on with our weapons drawn, the Thexterons roared before running towards us. Coming from the far right, Hope's boomerang came and wacked both of the Thexterons on the back of their heads. I took my chance and stepped on the Thexteron's head then jumped over it. The Thexteron regained its motions and went to swipe at me while in air but it missed, I landed in a crouch and shot a bullet straight hrough its head.

The other Thexteron charged towards Lightning, it went to attack her but once it was close enough, Lightning back-flipped thus catching the Thexteron's chin with her foot. The Thexteron yelped and began shaking its head from the attack, before the Thexteron had a chance to regain its composure, Lightning took her chance and dashed passed the Thexteron with the blade of her gunblade cutting through the side of the Thexteron. Her enemy howled loudly before collapsing onto the ground with dark green ooze coming out from its side.

We continued forward and the light disappeared, we headed towards the elevator of the platform until Hope asked a question, "Have you ever been here before? On duty, I mean." He turned to face Lightning.

"No, I haven't. This area's covered by the Woodlands Observation Battalion." Lightning replied, walking past Hope then stopping. Woodlands Observation Battalion? Difently sounds familiar me "You scared?" She asked Hope.

"Not really. I'm ready to fight if I have to," He said.

Lightning reached into her side-pack and retrieved what it seems like a survival knife, she held it out for Hope to grab "To keep you safe." Hope stepped forward and grabbed it from Lightning's hand "I'll want it back." Lightning walked onto the elevator.

"Lightning." The former soldier turned around halfway "I'm glad I followed you," You know, it's hard to keep a smile off of my face at this time "By myself, I would've had no chance."

We stepped onto the elevator and Lightning activated it. The elevator moved and stopped at the next are above us. Like before, we used the light as guides to navigate our way as we fought Thexterons and Frag Leeches- that is until we came across two Frag Leeches and a new bioweapon: Vespid. The two Frag Leeches were taken out and all that left was the Vespid. I twirled my gunblade in my right hand before dashing towards the bioweapon. I aimed to stab it straight through but it moved to the side and stung my shoulder blade as I passed, I gasped and began to stumble but I caught my balance.

With the Vespid advancing towards, I had difficulty raising my gunblade. That is until Lightning stepped in and took the Vespid's attention. The Vespid began shooting fire bombs at both Hope and Lightning but were easily avoided. Hope casted a thunder spell and it electricuted the bioweapon, it then fell to the ground.

I sighed then noticed Lightning walking towards me, I placed a wry hand on my shoulder. The Vespid stung between my shoulder blade and shoulder. Ow. "You alright?" She asked.

I just smiled like it was nothing, "Y-yeah, I'm fine," Lightning just looked at me and narrowed her eyes "Really, I'm fine!" I insisted "It was just a sting!" I went to sheath my gunblade but the immediate pain coursed through my shoulder.

Lightning rolled her eyes and gestured to me to around. Complying to defeat, I turned around. Hope came to my side and smiled, I did the same. The next thing I knew was the back of my shirt being held up, "Relax your shoulders," Lightning instructed and I did so. She placed her hand between my shoulder blade and shoulder then casted a cure spell. The warmth of the spell began to soothe my numb tissues and tight muscles- I have to admit, it felt nice. The former soldier removed her hand from my sting and let go of my shirt "Try and not to get stung again," Lightning said before walking away.

I huffed, Hope took the lead and I followed behind Lightning.

Following the light, we came across two Thexterons and a Vespid. However, instead of me taking on the bioweapon, I decided to leave that chore to Lightning so that she doesn't shoot me with another glare of hers.

After a while of fighting, Hope slowly came to a stop. Immediately, my helmet formed on its own and zoomed in on three velocycles in the distance.

"We need to hide!" Hope shouted.

"Agreed!" I said, Hope grabbed Lightning's wrist and pulled her under some cover while I pushed the former soldier forward at the sametime. Once hidden under those large crystal leaves, three PSICOM velocycles flew by and disappeared into the distance. My helmet turned back into the ring.

"They don't seem like they're even looking for us." Hope commented "I mean, we're l'Cie and we're on the loose." We came out from our hiding spot.

"PSICOM's keeping it all under wraps." Lightning replied "They don't want their failure publicized. Better to lose us than lose their pride."

"So the other soldier's don't know about us. Right?"

"Right. They don't know _anything_ about any fugitives." Lightning said the last part with sarcasm before walking off.

We boarded onto another elevator lift, Hope activated it and the elevator lift took us a level below. Not far from us was a group of Frag Leeches that were easily dispatched. Next up was a huge bioweapon, Alpha Behemoth, I think it was. With no way around it, the bioweapon saw us nonetheless and charged towards us, roaring. Lightning, Hope, and I quickly dispersed and kept our distances from being hit.

The Alpha Behemoth swiped a paw at Lightning, who avoided it by jumping onto the bioweapon's head and dashed along its back but not before sinking the blade of her gunblade into its body. The Alpha Behemoth roared in pain and began shaking its body violently, Lightning gripped the hilt of her gunblade and kept herself from being thrown off. Looking down at my gunblade, I looked back up at the former soldier "Lightning! Catch!" I shouted. In a swift movement, I threw my gunblade over to Lightning, who was timing the catch. Once the Alpha Behemoth stopped moving, Lightning jumped into the air and caught my gunblade. She manuvered her body threw my gunblade, blade first, into the same spot as her gunblade. Again, the bioweapon roared.

Lightning on the ground and nodded at both Hope and I. The three of us casted a thundera spell towards the two gunblades in the bioweapon's back, the electricity coursed through the weapons and into the bioweapon. In a second, the Alpha Behemoth dropped dead to ground and smoking. Literally. Lightning grabbed the two gunblades from the dead corpse and tossed back my gunblade. She nodded her thanks and I just smiled.

Before we passed through the gate, the group took a break for the time being. Hope gathered his breath and placed himself on the floor "I wonder how the others are doing." He said.

"Sazh, Vanille, and Nick?" Lightning inquired "Who knows. Even if they got away, they'll get caught eventually." She said, slowly pacing back and forth "Then they'll have to choose: resist or surrender." Lightning stopped in front of the gate.

"Surrender..." Hope muttered to the ground, I looked at him from the corner of my eye before looking away "Do you think _he's_ still alive?" He questioned, no doubt it's Snow.

"You mean Snow?" Lightning turned around to face him, she let out a huff "He's too stubborn to die. And that's his best quality. He's arrogant and chummy from the get-go. He thinks he's everybody's pal, never liked him much. He leads around a bunch of kids- gang called 'NORA'."

"Where'd they get the name 'Nora'?"

"It's a stupid acronym." Lightning answered "Their little code. Stands for 'No Obligations, Rules, or Authority'. Must be nice."

The gate opened and Hope stood up "It's irresponsible." He said before heading first through the gate with Lightning and I following from behind.

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**A/N: **Okay, I'm going to end this chapter here because I have more stuff in store to revealing more information about Alexis. But, unfortunately, that's all I'm going to say until the next chapter. Also, I would to thank those who reviewed, favorited, and alerted this story. Makes me feel happy ^^ So, until the next time on _Golden Feathers_~! See ya!  
Don't forget to review and other stuff XD


	11. Operation Nora

**A/N: **Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter of _Golden Feathers_~! I've been lazy recently about writing out _all_ the monster encounters, don't judge meh! :O ONWARD WITH THE STORY!

**Disclaimer: **The Final Fanatsy Series belong to Square Enix  
**Claimer: **_Golden Feathers_ and its characters belong to me

* * *

**Golden Feathers**

**Chapter Eleven: Operation Nora**

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The elevator lift came to a stop as it carried us to ground level of the Gapra Whitewood. As we walked along a path, large lited flowers were planted here and there along the long pipes "This is an army facility for turning wildlife into weapons." Lightning informed us as we came to a stop. I looked area the 'pin area' to see at least three vicious-looking creatures. More vicious looking than the bioweapons from before.

"Civilians aren't allowed in here, are they?" Hope asked.

"We'll have to be sure and tell them if we see any." said Lightning.

We moved into the pin and ready to take out anything, the creatures roared at each other and went off to chase each other _'Up close, these creatures are sort of cute when they're just minding their own business...'_ I mentally told myself, however, I spoke too soon when I was suddenly tackled to the ground with my back on the ground. Immediately, taking notice, I grabbed the top and bottom jaw of those creatures to prevent it from biting my head off.

Lightning and Hope went to help me but the other creatures already caught sight of them. They unsheathed their weapons and went to take care of the other two.

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**Lightning's POV**

The two creatures roared before charging in my direction. Hope put some distance between himself and the two creatures, he casted any spell that he can think of while I took care of the creatures with my gunblade. I swung my gunblade in a diagonal arc from my right but the creature jumped back. Readying my gunblade, the two creatures circled me, planning an attack.

A glimming light caught my attention from the corner of my eye, a large fireball sped by and nearly engulfed the creature on my left but the creature managed to duck as the fireball flew by. I took my chance and attacked the creature once the fireball was away, the creature turned its head back to me but it was already too late when I made a nice clean slice into its right side. The creature howled before falling dead on the ground.

"Light! Behind you!" The second creature roared as it went to leap on me, but I ducked just in time to see the creature skid across the ground with its claws leaving scratches. Switching my gunblade into ts gun form, I was about to shoot a bullet into its skull but another creature flew by and collided into it. Standing back up, I looked back at Alexis who was walking towards us while fixing her ponytail then her outfit.

Sheathing my gunblade, Hope ran ahead towards another set of ledges that led into another pen area. There, we encountered four creatures that were used for Frag Leeches. Hope threw his boomerang and hit the four creatures- one after the other.

The creatures were easily taken care of and we encountered another group of four near the gate. With the creatures gone, the gate powered down, we then fought a group of three Crawlers and a Silver Lobo.

We continued onward through the pin areas but only to be locked into one, when both gates powered up "Caged in like animals," I muttered. The ground suddenly shook, we turned to face a Feral Behemoth, that just landed in front of us.

Unsheathing our weapons, the Feral Behemoth charged head on with its horn parallel with the ground. Hope, Alexis, and I jumped out of the way. The Feral Behemoth skidded to a stop and turned around. As a start, Alexis and Hope began firing spells to disable the Feral Behemoth. Roaring, the Feral Behemoth shook off the attacks.

From the corner of my eye, Alexis slammed her right hand on the ground and immediately, the ground began to shake. Underneath the Feral Behemoth, the ground exploded upwards that sent our enemy flying into the air. Swiftly, I scaled over the ledges and towards the Feral Behemoth, I began my assault of attacks with spells being casted by Hope and Alexis. The behemoth crashed back down to the ground with myself landing far from its corpse.

From the distance, a loud noise began to sound "We tripped the security alarm," I informed the other two "The Observation Battalion will be coming."

"Let them come." Was all Hope said as he walked ahead of us. Alexis had a worried look on her face.

Ahead, we climbed a crystallized leaf up to an upper level and another gate. The large group of Crawlers were easily dispatched and the gate powered down. The light of the path disappeared as we passed by it.

"Take five." I said, heavy sighs of relief met my decision of taking a break. Hope panted heavily from the fights along the way, Alexis stretched her limbs and let out a deep breath. During our break, I looked at the path ahead of us and eventually glanced at both Alexis and Hope who remained behind.

Alexis was sitting on the ground with her legs dangling over the edge. I have to say, she can fend for herself but can be rather stubborn when it comes to injuries- her ability and power with the gunblade is interesting, from what I saw, her attacks flowed like water. Practice maybe? I then glanced at Hope, he was flipping and unflipping the survival knife that I gave him to protect himself "What's eating you?" I asked him, he's been silent since our talk about Snow "Okay, I tell that you're hung up on something." No response "Is it the l'Cie thing?" Nothing. I turned around "It's Snow, isn't it?" Hope stopped what he was doing. Snow, huh? "What happened with him?"

"You wouldn't understand." Hope replied.

I walked over to him and kneeled down in front of him, "You and I are partners, Hope." I said "Even Alexis is part of this." Hope looked at Alexis, I followed his gaze to see Alexis giving him a thumbs up and a smile. Hope then looked back at me, before looking back at the ground and sighing.

"My mother was killed." Hope began "Because of him. It's his fault." He repeatedly tapped the end of the knife's hilt against the ground. He stopped then flipped the blade up "And he needs to pay for it. I'm not ready yet, but I will be. Soon." He flipped the blade back and stood up "That's why I followed you." I stood up and walked passed me but stopped a short distance "Snow dragged us all into this. You, me, Alexis, your sister Serah...he's gotta pay."

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**Alexis's POV**

Hope began to walk ahead of us, I remained seated, thinking about what he said about confronting Snow. When he mentioned his mom...memories of the past began to raise to the surface of my mind...I shook my head. No, I have to keep those memories at bay. Dwelling on the past is not worth it. I took a deep breath before standing back up and following the others. The air around the group is getting heavy...that's for sure.

Instead of Hope, Lightning took the lead. We jumped down from several crystallized leaves and back down to the ground level. Upon arriving, we encountered a group of Silver Lobos. Afterwards, the gate shut down and we climbed up more crystallized leaves to another upper level.

We stop shortly after since a crystallized leaf blocked our way. Lightning unsheathed her gunblade and the leaf dissolved from the downward slash.

"Could I use one of those?" Hope asked, curiously.

"A bit too heavy for you." Lightning said, sheathing her gunblade. Hope nodded, he took out Lightning's survival knife flipped the blade up. I noticed Lightning eyeing the knife as if it reminded her of something. Lightning turned around but she remained silent for a short time before muttering something to herself.

Following the light along the platform, we fought more Silver Lobos, Crawlers, and a Vespid look-alike. Damn it. However, we reached another gate with a Feral Behemoth facing our direction and on high alert.

Once gone, we descended back down to the ground level. There were enemies all over the place but what's good is that some of them were fighting each other. Less fighting for us.

Going back up to the upper level, we boarded an elevator lift and it brought us to the level above us. Once off, we met a line of four Silver Lobos.

After getting rid of them, we came across PSICOM corpses, "What happened here?" Hope asked.

"Bad luck." Lightning replied "They came looking for us and found something worse."

I used the toe of my boot to move a corpse onto its back "Fresh kill," I said bluntly, tilting my head to the side "Several hours or so?"

"We just can't leave them like this!" Hope went ton one of the corpse but Lightning prevented him from doing so.

"Control your emotions." She told him "If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy." Hope looked down to the ground while Lightning paced around for a moment "How can I explain?" She asked herself. She turned around and knelt down "Think of it like a strategy." She began "Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else. Still your mind. Move on instinct." Lightning stood back up and turned her back towards Hope "Let doubt take over, and despair will cripple you."

Hope stood back up, Lightning and I turned our attention towards him "Strategy. Good. I'll take anything to help me get through this." He slowly walked ahead of us "I'll call it 'Operation Nora'."

"NORA?" Lightning questioned Hope's name choice for an operation.

"My mother's name." He answered.

"Your revenge?"

"Yes." Hope simply nodded "Don't tell me. I know getting revenge on him won't...bring her back." He then rounded on us "I know that! But 'sorry' won't cut it."

Hope went to move on ahead of us "Snow didn't kill your mother." Lightning told him directly "The Sanctum did."

"Whose side are you on?" Hope demanded.

"The side of truth." Lightning said without a beat.

I then stepped into the conversation, letting Hope know about my twin brother's grudge, "Nick was the same as you, Hope." He looked at me "Years ago, our father was put in charge to lead an investigation of Pulse origin." He remained silent "Nick blamed our older brother for letting our father go to his appending death. I tried to convince him that it wasn't our older brother's fault, but he denied the fact. Years passed, Nick still held the grudge against our older brother but a greater one with the Sanctum government. He swore that he will give the Sanctum a piece of his mind about our father's death." I went to take a breath but I didn't stop "Until this day, those grudges changed him into a pressured vessel of rage and despair."

After all that, my body began to shake. Hope needs to know what I see in my twin brother, he lowered his head.

I made my passed Hope as he stood rooted to the ground, I stopped in my tracks as Hope spoke up again, bringing out the survival knife "Fine." He muttered "I'll help you fight the Sanctum. I'll learn to survive. And..." He turned to look at me "I won't pressured like Nick has become..."

"Hmph, I'll hold onto that promise."

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**A/N:** ...This chapter did not come out to what I imagined it to be, there were a lot of stuff that I to shove to the side that would ruin Alexis's image. As for what she explained to Hope about Nick's grudge- that's actually true. Change of topic, this chapter didn't reveal much about Alexis (curse my brain and second thoughts D:) So, until the next time on _Golden Feathers_. See ya!  
Don't forget to review~!


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